Comparison of parallel flow and concentric micronebulizers for elemental determination in lubricant oil, residual fuel oil and biodiesel by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry

Two micronebulizers, PFA-100 and Miramist, were evaluated using a method for elemental determination by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES) in lubricant and residual fuel oils diluted in xylene. The facility and speed of direct sample dilution in organic solvents, without additional pretreatment, combined with the multielemental capacity and robustness of ICP OES are advantageous. The operational conditions were optimized through factorial design. Improvement in the signal-to-background ratio was observed for Ag, Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Si, Ti and V. Higher sensitivity was obtained with the PFA-100 micronebulizer, although the limits of detection (LOD) obtained for both micronebulizers were similar, between 0.3 mu g kg(-1) (Mg) and 18 mu g kg(-1) (Ni). The certified reference materials NIST 1634c and NIST 1085b were used for method validation and good recoveries were obtained with values between 93% (Pb) and 102% (P) for PFA-100 and 90% (Pb) and 103% (P) for Miramist. The method was also validated for analysis of biodiesel samples by recovery tests, with results from 89% to 103%. The proposed method was employed for the analysis of crude oil, lubricant oil and biodiesel from different raw materials. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.