Determination of Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and V in diesel and biodiesel samples by ETV-ICP-MST.

This work presents the determination of Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni and V in diesel and biodiesel samples by ETV-ICP MS using emulsion sample preparation. The emulsion composition was: 1.0 g of the diesel or biodiesel sample, 2.0 mL of a 5% m/v Triton X-100 solution, 0.5 mL of HNO3 and deionized water to a 10 mL final volume. The optimized parameters were mass of carrier/modifier (1.0 microg Pd), RF power (1100 W), carrier gas flow rate (0.95 L min(-1)) and inner ETV gas flow rate (0.15 L min(-1)). The determinations were performed against aqueous solutions using 10 microg L(-1) Rh as internal standard. The accuracy of the method was verified through the analysis of the NIST 1634c reference residual fuel oil, recovery tests and comparison of the results with those obtained by GF AAS. The results were in agreement according to the t-test at a 95% confidence level. The RSD values were lower than 20%, the recoveries were between 80 and 120% and the LOD values were in the order of ng g(-1), showing the good accuracy and sensitivity of the method.