Currently, there are two mixtures of biodiesel/diesel fuel sold in Brazil: BX/S500 and BX /S10 (X = volume/volume biodiesel percentage; S500 and S10 = sulfur content in diesel fuels - 500 ppm and 10 ppm, respectively). In order to differentiate these mixtures, red dye is added to diesel oil as required by the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), regulatory agency in Brazil. Since the palm oil biodiesel has also a reddish color, mixing this product with diesel fuel leads to difficulty in visual differentiation of the mixtures BX/S500 and BX/S10. We propose the use of UV-Vis spectrophotometry, which is a low cost, simple and rapid technique. Spectra obtained for different mixtures show that qualitative distinction is possible. For quantification of red dye in the presence of palm oil biodiesel, the method is limited when dye is present in low concentrations (< 0.1 mg L-1) due to matrix effects. The method showed good repeatability of the absorbance responses, wide linear dynamic range (0.02 mg L-1 to 40.00 mg L-1) and low limits of detection and quantification (0.006 mg L-1 and 0.019 mg L-1, respectively).
Keywords:
palm oil biodiesel; diesel fuel; red dye; spectrophotometry
