Status of GC-Fl D-generated data and handling 
7 
Status of GC-FID-generated data and handling 
Fig. 3: different sizes, shapes and colors of paraffin wax findings on the beaches. From small, brit 
tle flakes (top, 3a) to bigger and denser chunks (bottom, 3b). 
Paraffin wax collected from the beaches displays a great variety of size, shape 
and colour. Sizes range from tiny flake-like portions to larger chunks with diam 
eters up to 20 cm. Most samples show a whitish colour but shades of ‘dlrty’- 
grey to intensely yellow are recorded as well (Fig. 3). The material properties 
observed range from a hard and brittle texture to ductile and viscose condi 
tions. 
The variety in both texture and colour of the retrieved paraffin wax samples is 
reflected in the GC-FID chromatograms. Looking at a GC-FID chromatogram of 
a paraffin wax, the peak heights of every n-alkane (more or less) resemble a 
bell shape. As can be seen in Fig. 4, shape and position of the n-alkane bell 
shape and of the unresolved complex mixture (UCM), also known as the 
“hump”) differ greatly. 
Note that the chromatogram on the right side shows a paraffin wax containing 
higher boiling n-alkanes (“hba”, up to C-50). In such cases, the applied 
GC-FID method (CEN2012) is clearly reaching its limits as higher components 
cannot be separated sufficiently. However, investigations using a high-temper- 
ature GC-FID device (HTGC-FID) confirmed that those waxes are showing a 
bell-shaped appearance of n-alkanes as well.