| Abstract: | A simple, rapid and sensitive capillary gas chromatographic method was investigated to determine volatile fatty acids (VFA) in juice from silage made from artichoke and orange byproducts. The procedure uses a capillary column fused‐silica, 30 m×0.25 mm×0.25 mm ID and coated with FFAP‐TR. Centrifuged samples can be injected directly after lowering the pH to 1 and using a simple deproteinisation method. No adsorption, tailing or ghost phenomena occured. Separate analyses of VFA are quick and reliable. The average duration of an analyses is 7 min. The concentration, not only of the major acids, such as acetic acid, but also of the minor fermentation products such as butyric acid can be determined. The retention times of the products of fermentation and the extraction reagents were sufficiently different to avoid interference problems. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry |
