We analyzed glycerol using thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and compared the separation resolution of some mobile phases. When acetonitrile:distilled water (85:15 v/v) was used as a mobile phase, the band of glycerol on the TLC was more distinctly and rapidly separated. Using TLC analysis, we prepared a calibration curve for the glycerol concentration vs. the area of the glycerol band in which the glycerol concentration of the x-axis was converted into a log-scale ranging from 3.0 to 0.0625 (%, w/v). Based on this calibration curve, the residual glycerol concentration (0.2 [%, w/v]) in biodiesel was determined successfully using TLC analysis. When the results of the TLC analysis were compared with those of a chemical and enzymatic assay, the results were fairly similar. We conclude that TLC without additional analytical instruments can be used as an alternative method for the quantitative analysis of the concentration of glycerol in biodiesel.
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