The application of butanol as dilution agent for the inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometric determination of boron and phosphorus in lubricating oils

An evaluation of butanol-1 as dilution solvent for the determination of boron (B) and phosphorus (P) in lubricating oils by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) has been performed. Standard solutions of boric acid and tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) in butanol were employed as calibrants for B and P, respectively. Solutions of phosphoric acid and tris(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate (TEHP) in butanol were also tested as possible P standards. Increased concentrations of oil in the sample in the range of 0 to 20% showed no significant effects on B and P emission intensities indicating that matrix matching is not required for lubricating oils of about 2–15 cPoise. Detection limits in absence of spectral interferences were 0.06 μg B/g oil and 2 μg P/g oil. Overall estimated precision was 2.5% for B concentrations above 4 μg/g oil, and 6.5% for P concentrations above 20 μg/g oil. We evaluated the performance of a high resolution scanning spectrometer for mitigating the effects of overlapping spectral interferences from iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) on B and P emission lines. An interference from Fe 249.782 nm on the primary B line at 249.773 nm is observed for Fe concentrations higher than 100 μg/g oil, but a secondary B line at 249.678 nm is completely resolved from Fe 249.653 nm. In the case of P 213.618 nm, a contribution of the right wing of a Cu line at 213.598 nm generates a signal equivalent to P 18 μg/g oil for Cu 1000 μg/g oil. Received: 25 June 1997 / Revised: 16 September 1997 / Accepted: 7 October 1997