Simultaneous determination of quality parameters in biodiesel/diesel blends using synchronous fluorescence and multivariate analysis

• Published in: Microchemical journal 2013-05, Vol.108, p.32-37
• Main Authors: Insausti, Matías, Romano, Carlos, Pistonesi, Marcelo F., Band, Beatriz S. Fernández
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biodiesel/diesel blends; Cetane number; Color; Gross heat of combustion; PLS; SPA-MLR; Synchronous fluorescence
• ISSN: 0026-265X; 1095-9149
• DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2012.12.007

An analytical method was developed to determine four quality parameters (Biodiesel percentage, Cetane Number, Heat of Combustion Gross and Color) in biodiesel/diesel blends through a simple synchronous fluorescence spectrum of the samples. For this purpose, chemometrics models based on fluorescence spectra and PetroSpect data obtained from mixtures of biodiesel/diesel were built. A variable selection by the successive projections algorithm (SPA) was used in order to obtain simple multiple linear regression (MLR) models based on a small subset of wavelengths. The SPA-MLR results were compared with a partial least squares (PLS) full spectrum regression. The best values found for the root mean square error of prediction using external validation were 0.37% (w/w) for the biodiesel in diesel, 0.5 for cetane number, 0.013MJ/kg for heat of combustion and 0.1 for color. ► Chemometric models are useful to determine parameters with a simple synchronous fluorescence spectrum of the fuel sample. ► The proposed method is rapid and inexpensive compared to official methods. ► The quality parameters are fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), cetane number, gross heat of combustion and color.