A Novel GC-FID Analytical Strategy Reveals Adulteration of Fuels by Vegetable Oil

Abstract

Background: Adulteration of diesel fuel by the addition of vegetable oil is a problem that touches several countries around the world and bypasses the complexity of the specifications regarding the automotive diesel fuel distinguishing between customs, fiscal, and commercial–environmental specifications. At an international level, the adoption of the same analysis methods is important for the harmonization processes and the fluidity of the market. In this context, we assist to the diffusion of the same fraud touching several countries or continents since the limit of the same methods are common to many specifications. For several European countries, the revenue lost as a result of this adulteration consists of billions of euros per year. This enormous amount of illicit money feeds organized criminal networks with huge social and environmental damages. Objective: This work presents a GC method to quantify vegetable oils in the range of 0.2–7% (w/w) in adulterated diesel fuel, intended for use as motor fuel, with or without extraneous heavy mineral oil. Methods: Our study was realized on 100 fraudulent samples collected by the Italian fiscal police in regular oil stations and by the Italian fiscal police and customs officers as a consequence of controls on trucks transporting, in suspicious circumstances, “oil” often declared “antistick and anticorrosion oil” or “protective oil.” Conclusions and Highlights: High reliability of results, external validity, ease of replication, simple instrumentation, and sample preparation make this method well suited for a new “smart” protocol for diesel fuels analysis for customs, fiscal, and antifraud purposes.