Spectrochemical determination of silicon trace amounts in vegetable oils

Bocca A.; Mazzucotelli A.; Baragli S.

Several methods employed in the determination of trace amounts of Si to detect the presence of antifoaming or denaturing agents such as silicones (dimethylpolysiloxanes) are tested and described. Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma, atomic absorption spectroscopy and classical Mo-blue spectrophotometric procedures are successively considered. The last procedure seems to be most reliable one when sensitivity, accuracy, reproducibility and availability are taken into account.