Determination of wear metals in lubricating oils by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry

A simple, rapid and reliable method was developed for the determination of copper, nickel, iron and lead in fresh and used lubricating oil samples by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry (FAAS). In the present study, a mixture of organic solvents containing propionic acid and iso-butylmethyl ketone (1: 1) was used to extract the metals from lubricating oil samples followed by FAAS analysis. Aqueous standard solutions can be easily employed with the proposed mixed solvent system instead of organometallic standards. The analytical results obtained by employing the proposed solvent extraction system were found to be in good agreement with the results for aqueous media obtained after the destruction of oil samples matrix. Percentage recovery studies showed 88–98% for Cu, 92–95% for Fe, 96–106% for Ni and 84–100% for Pb with relative standard deviation of 2–6%. The developed method was effectively applied to routine determination of Cu, Ni, Fe, and Pb in lubricating oil samples.