Development of a certified reference material: ethanol in water - a practical case

Abstract

The present work describes the development of a certified reference material (CRM) composed of solutions of ethanol in water in five different concentrations, and all stages necessary for the development of an CRM, according to the guidelines of ISO GUIDES 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35. The development of this CRM has been determined by Inmetro Rule n. 006 of 2002, which requires that all breath alcohol analyzers being used in Brazil shall have their respective models approved and that the subsequent verifications shall be performed based on tests with solutions of ethanol in water. As a result, the development of this CRM significantly contributes to the reliability of measurements performed with breath alcohol analyzers, with stated measurement uncertainty. Equally important, this development provides society with a CRM that may have multiple applications, not restricted to the verification of breath alcohol analyzers.