How to Make Peroxide Analysis Faster, Safer and More Precise

Peroxides pose significant safety risks during production and storage. They also degrade fuel quality by reducing the octane rating in gasoline. While traditional titration and spectrophotometric methods such as ASTM D2340 and ASTM E299 are widely used, their accuracy is often influenced by oxygen interference — resulting in inconsistent data and increased operational risks.

An alternative is ASTM D8534, using the Fast Peroxide Analyzer (FPA) developed by Da Vinci Laboratory Solutions. This fully automated system applies flow injection analysis to ensure fast, safe and precise peroxide determination at trace levels.

Flow Injection Analysis – ASTM D8534

The FPA integrates Agilent HPLC hardware with the Da Vinci Reaction Module, Sampling Valve and Pressure Station. The Pressure Station ensures safe handling of pressurized liquefied gas samples contained in cylinders.

The sample is injected into an acidified iodide reagent stream and transferred to the Reaction Module, where peroxides react with iodide to form iodine. The Reaction Module is optimized for maximum conversion, after which the resulting yellow‑brown iodine is detected by the UV detector.

The entire workflow is controlled via Agilent OpenLab software.
Peroxide content is determined in under five minutes, and the method is standardized as ASTM D8534.

Broad Application Range

The Fast Peroxide Analyzer is suitable for both chemical and pharmaceutical applications, including:

• Peroxide Analysis in 1,3‑Butadiene
  An application note comparing the FPA with ASTM D5799 demonstrates significantly improved repeatability, better estimated reproducibility, and shorter analysis times.
• Peroxide Analysis in Refined Chemical Streams
  A second application note demonstrates fast and accurate peroxide detection across a wide range of chemical products, including sub‑ppb active oxygen levels depending on sample type.
• Peroxide Analysis in Styrene Monomer
  In a third application notes the iodometric titration method ASTM D2340 is compared with the FPA. Results show that the FPA delivers higher precision, improved detection limits, and faster analysis of peroxide traces in styrene monomer streams.
• Peroxide Analysis in Pharmaceutical‑Grade Solvents
  A fourth application note describes the analysis of peroxide traces in pharmaceutical grade solvents, including aromatics, saturated hydrocarbons, water, tetrahydrofuran and derivatives, alcohols, ethers, and esters. The FPA delivers reliable results in a wide range of solvents with a total analysis time of 5 minutes, a detection limit below 0.1 mg/kg, and precision of RSD < 5%.

Learn More

Interested in automating safe, fast and precise peroxide analysis?
Contact Da Vinci Laboratory Solutions to learn how the Fast Peroxide Analyzer can support your application requirements.