Three petrol reference materials were certified for their total sulfur content in support of Directive 2003/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the European Council, which stipulates that petrol with a maximum S content of 10 mg/kg must be available in all member states by 2009. Commercially available petrol was obtained and filled into borosilicate ampoules without further treatment. Homogeneity of the materials was tested and no heterogeneity was detected for two of the materials, whereas minor heterogeneity was observed for the third material. Stability of the materials was tested for 8-12 months at 60 °C and no degradation was observed. Characterisation was based on isotope-dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) applied as primary method of measurement by three European metrology institutes and certified values were assigned using all results. The certified uncertainties include contributions of (potential) heterogeneity, potential degradation as well as characterisation. The final assigned values are:
ERM-EF211: 48.8 ± 1.7 mg/kg
ERM-EF212: 20.2 ± 1.1 mg/kg
ERM-EF213: 9.1 ± 0.8 mg/kg
The materials are available from IRMM (ERM-EF211), LGC (ERM-EF212) and BAM (ERMEF213)
A comparison of high accuracy methods for the analysis of total sulfur in gas oils by three metrology institutes is described. The work contains a comparison of three different aspects of the analysis: sample digestion, instrumental measurement and isotope dilution strategies.
Thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) in combination with high pressure asher (HPA) or Carius tube digestion has traditionally been used for such high accuracy analysis. However, this paper demonstrates that the faster, less laborious technique of ICP-MS in combination with microwave digestion is equally capable. Results from the comparison experiments show excellent agreement for fuel samples containing sulfur concentrations in the range 11200 µg g-1. This excellent agreement across the different sample preparation, measurement and isotope dilution techniques has been exploited in the certification of two new diesel fuel reference materials.