Generation and mid-IR measurement of a gas-phase to predict security parameters of aviation jet fuel

The worldwide use of kerosene as aviation jet fuel makes its safety considerations of most importance not only for aircraft security but for the workers' health (chronic and/or acute exposure). As most kerosene risks come from its vapours, this work focuses on predicting seven characteristics (flash point, freezing point, % of aromatics and four distillation points) which assess its potential hazards. Two experimental devices were implemented in order to, first, generate a kerosene vapour phase and, then, to measure its mid-IR spectrum. All the working conditions required to generate the gas phase were optimised either in a univariate or a multivariate (SIMPLEX) approach. Next, multivariate prediction models were deployed using partial least squares regression and it was found that both the average prediction errors and precision parameters were satisfactory, almost always well below the reference figures. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.