Determination of glycerol in biodiesel samples by composite electrodes modified with NiO(OH) nanoparticles anchored in graphene

Abstract

Biodiesel, fuel derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, is an alternative to petroleum-derived fuels and its use has environmental and economic advantages for Brazil. Biodiesel is produced by the transesterification of vegetable or animal oil with an alcohol, it has as catalyst an acid or base. The base is more effective because it has a higher conversion rate, is faster and does not require heating, the most used catalysts are sodium and potassium hydroxides. However, catalyst residues may be present in the final product and the presence of glycerol may damage vehicle engines, so determining the amount of this compound is important to ensure the quality of the biofuel. However, the techniques used for this purpose require expensive equipment. An alternative for the development of methodologies for the determination of the alcohols in question is the use of electroanalytical techniques using chemically modified electrodes. The hexacyanoferrates of some metals are electrochemical sensors for the determination of these alcohols because they are good selective for the components in thesis. Aiming at the great importance of the determination of glycerol in biodiesel and the need to develop fast, sensitive and low cost determination methods, the current project aims to develop chemically modified electrodes with nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCF) for potentiometric determination of glycerol in Biodiesel, the sample being prepared as microemulsion. (AU)