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Monitoring of the molecular structure of lubricant oil using a FT-Raman spectrometer prototype
(2014)
The determination of the physical state of the lubricant materials in complex mechanical systems is highly critical from different points of view: operative, economical, environmental, etc. Furthermore, there are several parameters that a lubricant oil must meet for a proper performance inside a machine. The monitoring of these lubricants can represent a serious issue depending on the analytical approach applied. The molecular change of aging lubricant oils have been analyzed using an all-standard-components and self-designed FT-Raman spectrometer. This analytical tool allows the direct and clean study of the vibrational changes in the molecular structure of the oils without having direct contact with the samples and without extracting the sample from the machine in operation. The FT-Raman spectrometer prototype used in the analysis of the oil samples consist of a Michelson interferometer and a self-designed photon counter cooled down on a Peltier element arrangement. The light coupling has been accomplished by using a conventional 62.5/125μm multi-mode fiber coupler. The FT-Raman arrangement has been able to extract high resolution and frequency precise Raman spectra, comparable to those obtained with commercial FT-Raman systems, from the lubricant oil samples analyzed. The spectral information has helped to determine certain molecular changes in the initial phases of wearing of the oil samples. The proposed instrument prototype has no additional complex hardware components or costly software modules. The mechanical and thermal irregularities influencing the FT-Raman spectrometer have been removed mathematically by accurately evaluating the optical path difference of the Michelson interferometer. This has been achieved by producing an additional interference pattern signal with a λ= 632.8 nm helium-neon laser, which differs from the conventional zero-crossing sampling (also known as Connes advantage) commonly used by FT-devices. It enables the FT-Raman system to perform reliable and clean spectral measurements from the analyzed oil samples.
The combination of fossil-derived fuels with ethanol and methanol has acquired relevance and attention in several countries in recent years. This trend is strongly affected by market prices, constant geopolitical events, new sustainability policies, new laws and regulations, etc. Besides bio-fuels these materials also include different additives as anti-shock agents and as octane enhancer. Some of the chemical compounds in these additives may have harmful properties for both environment and public health (besides the inherent properties, like volatility). We present detailed Raman spectral information from toluene (C7H8) and ethanol (C2H6O) contained in samples of ElO gasoline-ethanol blends. The spectral information has been extracted by using a robust, high resolution Fourier-Transform Raman spectrometer (FT-Raman) prototype. This spectral information has been also compared with Raman spectra from pure additives and with standard Raman lines in order to validate its accuracy in frequency. The spectral information is presented in the range of 0 cm-1 to 3500 cm-1 with a resolution of 1.66cm-1. This allows resolving tight adjacent Raman lines like the ones observed around 1003cm-1 and 1030cm-1 (characteristic lines of toluene). The Raman spectra obtained show a reduced frequency deviation when compared to standard Raman spectra from different calibration materials. The FT-Raman spectrometer prototype used for the analysis consist basically of a Michelson interferometer and a self-designed photon counter cooled down on a Peltier element arrangement. The light coupling is achieved with conventional62.5/125μm multi-mode fibers. This FT-Raman setup is able to extract high resolution and frequency precise Raman spectra from the additives in the fuels analyzed. The proposed prototype has no additional complex hardware components or costly software modules. The mechanical and thermal disturbances affecting the FT-Raman system are mathematically compensated by accurately extracting the optical path information of the Michelson interferometer. This is accomplished by generating an additional interference pattern with a λ = 632.8 nm Helium-Neon laser (HeNe laser). It enables the FT-Raman system to perform reliable and clean spectral measurements from the materials under observation.
We report the use of the Raman spectral information of the chemical compound toluene C7H8 as a reference on the analysis of laboratory-prepared and commercially acquired gasoline-ethanol blends. The rate behavior of the characteristic Raman lines of toluene and gasoline has enabled the approximated quantification of this additive in commercial gasoline-ethanol mixtures. This rate behavior has been obtained from the Raman spectra of gasoline-ethanol blends with different proportions of toluene.
All these Raman spectra have been collected by using a self-designed, frequency precise and low-cost Fourier-transform Raman spectrometer (FT-Raman spectrometer) prototype. This FT-Raman prototype has helped to accurately confirm the frequency position of the main characteristic Raman lines of toluene present on the different gasoline-ethanol samples analyzed at smaller proportions than those commonly found in commercial gasoline-ethanol blends. The frequency accuracy validation has been performed by analyzing the same set of toluene samples with two additional state-of-the-art commercial FT-Raman devices. Additionally, the spectral information has been contrasted, with highly-correlated coefficients as a result, with the values of the standard Raman spectrum of toluene.
The industry of the agave-derived bacanora, in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, has been growing substantially in recent years. However, this higher demand still lies under the influences of a variety of social, legal, cultural, ecological and economic elements. The governmental institutions of the state have tried to encourage a sustainable development and certain levels of standardization in the production of bacanora by applying different economical and legal strategies. However, a large portion of this alcoholic beverage is still produced in a traditional and rudimentary fashion. Beyond the quality of the beverage, the lack of proper control, by using adequate instrumental methods, might represent a health risk, as in several cases traditional-distilled beverages can contain elevated levels of harmful materials. The present article describes the qualitative spectral analysis of samples of the traditional-produced distilled beverage bacanora in the range from 0 cm−1 to 3500 cm−1 by using a Fourier Transform Raman spectrometer. This particular technique has not been previously explored for the analysis of bacanora, as in the case of other beverages, including tequila. The proposed instrumental arrangement for the spectral analysis has been built by combining conventional hardware parts (Michelson interferometer, photo-diodes, visible laser, etc.) and a set of self-developed evaluation algorithms. The resulting spectral information has been compared to those of pure samples of ethanol and to the spectra from different samples of the alcoholic beverage tequila. The proposed instrumental arrangement can be used the analysis of bacanora.