ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Determination of potassium in fatty acid methyl esters applying an ion-selective potassium electrode

P. Rapta, J. Paligová, H. Rotheneder, and J. Cvengroš

Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

E-mail: peter.rapta@stuba.sk

Received: 5 December 2006  Revised: 4 April 2007  Accepted: 17 April 2007

Abstract: An easy and inexpensive method of potassium determination in fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) applying an ion-selective potassium electrode (ISE-K) is presented. FAME are considered alternative fuel for diesel engines. Simple apparatus and procedure were developed to avoid contact of ester samples with the sensitive ISE-K membrane, which can damage the ISE membrane surface in long time operation. Using different FAME samples with a wide range of known potassium content a calibration curve was constructed. Among all samples, ISE-K satisfactory predicted potassium content in FAME as identified by the AAS reference method.

Keywords: methyl esters - alternative fuels - potentiometry - ion-selective electrode - potassium content

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-007-0044-1

Chemical Papers 61 (5) 337–341 (2007)