Quantification of ethanol in petrol-ethanol blends: Use of Reichardt's E<inf>T</inf>(30) dye in introducing a petrol batch independent calibration procedure

Petroleum fuels are generally non-polar. The presence of ethanol in the petrol-ethanol fuel blends increases the polarity of the fuel blend. It was observed that absorption spectral shift of the Reichardt's ET(30) dye is sensitive to the petrol-ethanol blend polarity. It was also found that ET(30) dye has a characteristic λmax of absorption in petrol-ethanol blends irrespective of the petrol batch with which blends were prepared. In the present work, a sensitive analytical method for the petrol batch independent quantification of ethanol content in petrol-ethanol blends has been developed. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.