Quantification of water in ethanol using a photothermal transparent transducer

Ethanol with added water may be found during the process of assessing its physical and chemical properties. This addition can damage automotive vehicle engines and also may contribute to tax evasion. The present contribution describes a method based on a photothermal transparent transducer to determine the water content in ethanol. A chamber with a window of lithium tantalate coated with a thin layer of indium tin oxide was used, and a 1450-nm laser diode was employed as the excitation source. The results indicated a nearly linear response of the apparatus, as a function of the water content in water/ethanol solutions ranging from 0 to 100 (vol.%). The results for the dependency of the photothermal signal on the laser power and chopping frequency suggested that reliable results can be obtained using laser power and chopping rates above 100 mW and 10 Hz, respectively. The results reported here may be useful in the development of an alternative method that can provide real-time data on the water concentration in ethanol in a rapid, portable and unambiguous way, and that can be easily used in laboratory analyses or in gas stations. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.