IR method for control of fatty acid methyl ester content in the laboratory of fuel storage in Oman

February, 2018 – Salalah, Oman. Lumex Instruments successfully implemented IR method for the control of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content in diesel fuel in the laboratory of Mina Petroleum, one of the biggest fuel storages in Oman. Measurements are made according to EN 14078:2014 standard by a cutting-edge FTIR Fourier spectrometer InfraLUM FT-08 manufactured by Lumex Instruments. The tool was installed in December and has been successfully operating for the past three months.

Lumex Instruments solution provides reliable control of FAME content starting from the lowest concentration level of 0.05 % (V/V). A simple and convenient module of quantitative analysis integrated into the software SpectraLUM allows getting the result of FAME content immediately in percentage by volume and without additional operations.

Mina Petroleum controls FAME content several times a month, but previously samples for analysis were sent to the external laboratory that brought additional expenses for the company and made analysis time very long. The use of InfraLUM FT-08 allows getting the result in a couple of minutes and reduces expenses significantly.

The control of FAME content in diesel fuel or domestic heating fuel provides the right fuel identification and is used for registration of possible FAME impact on engines and fuel systems.

Lumex Instruments also provides solutions for IR-testing diesel fuel in accordance with other standards, for example ASTM D7371.