This European Standard specifies a gas chromatographic method for ethanol, in which higher alcohols (propan-1-ol, butan-1-ol, butan-2-ol, 2-methylpropan-1-ol (isobutanol), 2-methylbutan-1-ol, and 3-methylbutan-1-ol) from 0,1 % up to 2,5 % (m/m), methanol from 0,1 % up to 3 % (m/m) and other impurities, in the range from 0,1 % up to 2 % (m/m) are determined.

Impurities are all the compounds not attributed to the groups of higher alcohols or methanol.

NOTE 1 The European ethanol blending component specification[1] sets a limit for the combined result of ethanol + higher alcohols, not the ethanol content itself.

Due to possible interferences, the method is not applicable to denatured ethanol samples.

Water, if present in the sample, is not included in this analysis, because a signal for water is not visible in the chromatogram. Therefore, if "alcohol content" is called up in a specification, water needs to be considered separately in the calculations.

NOTE 2 For the purposes of this European Standard, the term "% (m/m)" is used to represent the mass fraction (ω).