Near-infrared spectroscopy to determine cold-flow improver concentrations in diesel fuel

Abstract The properties of diesel fuels must be controlled during industrial production. Significant diesel additives are cold-flow improvers that affect fuel properties at low temperature properties of diesel fuels. Improvers are added to fuels during processing in order to lower their cold filter plugging point (CFPP). In order to meet the European standard (EN 590), large quantities of cold-flow improvers may be required, increasing the cost of processing. In this study, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was used for the rapid determination of cold-flow improver concentration. Our predictive models included 150 calibration standards and predictions were verified using 15 validation standards. The concentration of cold-flow improvers ranged from 50 to 325 mg/kg in the partial least squares (PLS) and from 60 to 325 mg/kg in the principal component regression (PCR) algorithm. The RSD of repeatability was 5.89 % for the PLS algorithm and the RSD of 3.51 % for the PCR algorithm of the model. Thus, NIR spectroscopy provides a fast and accurate tool for the determination of cold-flow improver concentrations in diesel fuel.