Measurement of fluorescence decay of crude oil: a potential technique to identify oil slicks

A New Approach of Oil Spill Detection Using Time-Resolved LIF Combined with Parallel Factors Analysis for Laser Remote Sensing

In hope of developing a method for oil spill detection in laser remote sensing, a series of refined and crude oil samples were investigated using time-resolved fluorescence in conjunction with parallel factors analysis (PARAFAC). The time resolved emission spectra of those investigated samples were taken by a laser remote sensing system on a laboratory basis with a detection distance of 5 m. Based on the intensity-normalized spectra, both refined and crude oil samples were well classified without overlapping, by the approach of PARAFAC with four parallel factors. Principle component analysis (PCA) has also been operated as a comparison. It turned out that PCA operated well in classification of broad oil type categories, but with severe overlapping among the crude oil samples from different oil wells. Apart from the high correct identification rate, PARAFAC has also real-time capabilities, which is an obvious advantage especially in field applications. The obtained results suggested that the approach of time-resolved fluorescence combined with PARAFAC would be potentially applicable in oil spill field detection and identification.

Vegetation identification based on characteristics of fluorescence spectral spatial distribution

The PCIFSD were firstly utilized in plant species analysis. Plant species can be effortless distinguished using PCIFSD in this paper.

Time-resolved fluorescence microspectroscopy for characterizing crude oils in bulk and hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions

Time-resolved fluorescence data was collected from a series of 23 bulk crude petroleum oils and six microscopic hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions (HCFI). The data was collected using a diode laser fluorescence lifetime microscope (DLFLM) over the 460-700 nm spectral range using a 405 nm excitation source. The correlation between intensity averaged lifetimes (tau) and chemical and physical parameters was examined with a view to developing a quantitative model for predicting the gross chemical composition of hydrocarbon liquids trapped in HCFI. It was found that tau is nonlinearly correlated with the measured polar and corrected alkane concentrations and that oils can be classified on this basis. However, these correlations all show a large degree of scatter, preventing accurate quantitative prediction of gross chemical composition of the oils. Other parameters such as API gravity and asphaltene, aromatic, and sulfur concentrations do not correlate well with tau measurements. Individual HCFI were analyzed using the DLFLM, and time-resolved fluorescence measurements were compared with tau data from the bulk oils. This enabled the fluid within the inclusions to be classified as either low alkane/high polar or high alkane/low polar. Within the high alkane/low polar group, it was possible to clearly discriminate HCFI from different locales and to see differences in the trapped hydrocarbon fluids from a single geological source. This methodology offers an alternative method for classifying the hydrocarbon content of HCFI and observing small variations in the trapped fluid composition that is less sensitive to fluctuations in the measurement method than fluorescence intensity based methods.

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic study of crude petroleum oils: influence of chemical composition

The fluorescence of crude petroleum oils is sensitive to changes in chemical composition and many different fluorescence methods have been used to characterize crude oils. The use of fluorescence lifetimes to quantitatively characterize oil composition has practical advantages over steady-state measurements, but there have been comparatively few studies in which the lifetime behavior is correlated with gross chemical compositional data. In this study, the fluorescence lifetimes for a series of 23 crude petroleum oils with American Petroleum Institute (API) gravities of between 10 and 50 were measured at several emission wavelengths (450-785 nm) using a 380 nm light emitting diode (LED) excitation source. It was found that the intensity average fluorescence lifetime (tau) at any emission wave-length does not correlate well with either API gravity or aromatic concentration. However, it was found that tau is strongly negatively correlated with both the polar and sulfur concentrations and positively correlated with the corrected alkane concentration. This indicates that the fluorescence behavior of crude petroleum oils is governed primarily by the concentration of quenching species. All the strong lifetime-concentration correlations are nonlinear and show a high degree of scatter, especially for medium to light oils with API gravities of between 25 and 40. The degree of scatter is greatest for oils where the concentrations (wt %) of the polar fraction is approximately 10 +/- 4%, the asphaltene component is approximately 1 +/- 0.5%, and sulfur is 0.5 +/- 0.4%. This large degree of scatter precludes the use of average fluorescence lifetime data obtained with 380 nm excitation for the accurate prediction of the common chemical compositional parameters of crude petroleum oils.