Abstract

Fuel adulteration remains a persistent challenge across the Indian subcontinent, driven by episodic price surge and supply constraint and turpentine oil is a versatile essential oil with variety of uses and applications in industrial, medicinal, and personal care fields. Among various illicit practices, the substitution or dilution of turpentine oil with kerosene has emerged as a prevalent method employed by unscrupulous vendors to maximize profit margins. The paper highlights the detection and characterization of the adulteration of turpentine oil with kerosene through a multi-tiered analytical approach integrating with conventional and advanced techniques. A comprehensive suite of analytical methods was employed to identify kerosene adulteration in turpentine oil. Preliminary screening involved physical property assessment (density, refractive index and qualitative chemical tests. These were followed by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) for component separation and Gas Chromatography (GC) for precise identification and quantification of kerosene-specific aliphatic and aromatic compounds. Recent innovation like surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors and Ultrasonic helical Waveguide Sensors have significantly enhanced the sensitivity, specificity, and operational efficiency of fuel adulteration detection. The integration of traditional and advanced analytical modalities provides a robust framework for forensic and regulatory surveillance and support scalable deployment in field and laboratory settings.

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