Determination of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content in diesel fuel or domestic heating fuel by mid-IR spectroscopy

INTRODUCTION

Presence of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) in diesel fuel or domestic heating fuel (both hereinafter referred to as diesel fuel) is a signal of blending with biodiesel. The control of FAME content in diesel fuel is an essential and actual task because of the need of the right fuel identification and registration of possible FAME impact on engines and fuel systems. To control the compliance one of the most accurate, rapid and simple methods is EN 14078:2014.

Lumex Instruments provides user-friendly analytical solution for EN 14078:2014 implementation using FTIR spectrometer InfraLUM FT-08 and powerful SpectraLUM software package.

FAME content can also be measured by InfraLUM FT-08 in accordance with other standard methods (ASTM D7371-14 etc). These measurement procedures are not given in the application.

MEASURING METHOD

The method is based on measuring the transmission spectra of a sample of diesel fuel in the mid-IR spectral range. Consequent calculation of the FAME concentration is performed by InfraLUM software automatically by comparison of peak height against a calibration curve.