Quantitative Analysis of Constituents in Heavy Fuel Oil by ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy and Multivariate Data Analysis

Abstract

Characterization of heavy fuel oil (HFO) is highly important to ensure technically, economically, and environmentally proper operation of the engines and power plants that use this source of energy. This applies in particular to the shipping industry. Here, we demonstrate that the combination of standard 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis can be employed for quick and accurate extraction of parameters pertaining to the physical and chemical properties of complex suspensions, such as HFO. For 82 HFO samples of known origin, good prediction models were obtained for a large number of characterization parameters, including the calculated aromaticity index, the density, gross and net calorific values, and water and sulfur contents, as well as micro-carbon residue.

Non-invasive characterization of polymeric materials in relation to art conservation using unilateral NMR combined with multivariate data analysis

“…Cross-validation was performed by dividing the data in seven groups and subsequently developing a number of parallel models from the reduced data with one of the groups kept out once and only once. [37][38][39] Results and discussion…”

Recent Applications of First- and Second-Order Multivariate Calibration to Analytical Chemistry

“…Other relevant fuel properties can be adequately measured using the PLS-assisted analysis of the following indicated data: (a) in diesels, flash point and cetane number (114) and quality parameters (115) by NIR spectroscopy, residual oil by fluorescence (116), ethanol, and specific gravity by distillation curves (117), and vegetable oils and fats adulterants by LC with UV-Vis detection (118); (b) in biodiesels, methyl ester content by NIR spectroscopy (119), density, kinematic viscosity, methanol, and water content by MIR spectroscopy (120), and adulteration with vegetable oil by NIR and MIR spectroscopies (121); (c) in gasolines, blending control by NIR spectroscopy (122), adulteration with diesel oil, kerosene, turpentine spirit, or thinner by MIR spectroscopy (123); and pyrolytic diene values by UV-Vis spectroscopy (124); (d) fatty acid methyl ester in jet fuel by MS (125); (e) constituents of heavy fuel oil by 1 H NMR spectroscopy (126); and (f) adulteration of ethanol fuel with methanol by MIR spectroscopy (127). Additional determinations of industrial relevance are the total acid number (128), quality (129), and sulfur content (130) of crude oil, glucose and ethanol in bioethanol (131), butene in ethylene/ propylene/1-butene terpolymers (132) by MIR spectroscopy, saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes in crude oil by fluorescence spectroscopy (133), nickel and chromium in steel by laser UV spectroscopy (134), and 11 pesticides in agrochemical formulations by a NIR spectroscopy/PLS-based QC with results comparable to HPLC (135).…”

Swirling Flame Combustion of Heavy Fuel Oil: Effect of Fuel Sulfur Content

“…Heavy fuel oil (HFO) also called as Bunker C oil is an economically attractive, tar-like, lowgrade fuel used for propelling marine engines, firing industrial blast furnaces and in utility boilers for electricity generation because of its low cost, availability and high energy density. HFO is characterized by its high viscosity, high molecular weight, high asphaltenes content and complex compositional diversity possessing several thousands of individual molecules and functional groups [1][2][3][4][5][6]. HFO is rich in polycyclic sulfur aromatic hydrocarbons (PASH) [7] and also contain heavy metals like Vanadium, Nickel etc.…”