PROCEDIMENTO ELETROANALÍTICO PARA DETERMINAÇÃO DE CÁLCIO EM BIODIESEL

Abstract

Metal traces are often detected in biodiesel samples due to its presence in the raw materials or solubilization during its manufacturing. Thus, this work aims to propose an electroanalytical methodology for the direct determination of Ca²⁺ in biodiesel using with a glassy carbon electrode. The metal quantification was developed according to Anodic Stripping Voltammetry Mode square-wave (SWASV) technique applying EDTA as the complexing agent. Thus, all samples were pretreated according to wet acid digestion processing and microwave radiation. Therefore, a solution of 4 mL of ultrapure nitric acid (HNO₃), 2 mL of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and 1 mL deionized water were added to 300 mg sample of biodiesel. Later, such mixtures was thermal treated at 90 °C using 300 W (10 min) and 450 W (5 min) of microwave radiations. The analytical determinations were carried out using ammonium buffer (0.01 mol Lˉ¹, pH = 9.4) as supporting electrolyte and EDTA (1x10ˉ² mol Lˉ¹) as ligand. The optimized voltammetric conditions were EDEP = -1000 mV; tpre = 120 s; Frequency = 30 Hz; Amplitude = 100 mV and ΔEstep = 15 mV. The accuracy was verified by recovery tests. In all cases, the metal quantizations were statistically consistent considering the t-test student for a confidence level of 95%. The CV values were lower than 11%, the recoveries were between 102.9% to 102.4% and the values of the detection limits were 1.9 x 10ˉ⁸ and 1.6 x 10ˉ9 mol Lˉ¹ for the samples, showing good accuracy and sensitivity of the proposed method. The values obtained for the samples ranged from 2.8 x 10ˉ⁸ ± 5.0 x 10ˉ⁸ mol Lˉ¹ and 3.4 x 10ˉ7 ± 5.0 x 10ˉ9 mol Lˉ¹ for Ca²⁺ in evaluated biodiesel.