Biogenic Fraction Determination in Fuel Blends by Laser‐Based ¹⁴CO₂ Detection

Abstract

A widespread use of biofuels is a key recommendation of the Paris Agreement and leading international organizations. It is an important step to mitigate the global warming effects due to greenhouse‐gas emissions from fossil oils. To this aim, an analytical technique sufficiently cheap and compact, to foster its widespread adoption, is necessary. Herein, it is shown that a compact, laser‐based spectrometer is suitable to replace the few established techniques, which have been used to quantify the biofraction in fuel blends, so far. Measurements of the biogenic fraction in different fuel samples are reported, with a precision of 1% in the whole range (0–100%) of possible blends, confirming a performance comparable to the best existing technique. An onsite‐deployable saturated‐absorption cavity ring‐down (SCAR) spectrometer is used. The results demonstrate the potential of laser‐based instrumentation to do the accurate and precise measurements required for the certification of biogenic content of any hydrocarbon‐based material. Worldwide adoption of such laser‐based technology for biofraction certification can significantly boost the market of biofuels and can prove to be a disruptive methodology for assessing the biogenic content in plastics and polymeric materials.

INTERCOMPARISON EXERCISE ON FUEL SAMPLES FOR DETERMINATION OF BIOCONTENT RATIO BY 14C ACCELERATOR MASS SPECTROMETRY

“…The increasing amount and demand of used biobased fuel components require reliable and independent measurement techniques of the biocontent ratio determinations in blends. It is not only a scientific interest, but also an economic demand (Oinonen et al 2010;Deneyer et al 2018;Varga et al 2018;Delli Santi et al 2021). Renewable components in the fuel industry, such as biofuels, are generally made by biological processing of recent organic materials.…”

Doubly resonant sub-ppt photoacoustic gas detection with eight decades dynamic range

“…Among the most sensitive laser-based gas sensing techniques, noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy (NICE-OHMS) achieved 10 −14 cm −1 in noise equivalent absorption (NEA) [9] . The minimum detectable concentration of a specific molecule has been achieved by saturated-absorption cavity ring-down (SCAR) with a limit of a few parts-per-quadrillion (ppq) [6] , [10] . However, the relatively long cavity used in this class of gas sensors sets a limit on the dynamic range because the high finesse degrades even at low gas concentrations, which also leads to, in turn, the large overall footprint and weight.…”

On-Line Monitoring of Radiocarbon Emissions in a Nuclear Facility with Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy

“… 26 , 27 Recently, the use of laser absorption spectroscopy was reported in quantifying biofraction in biofuels, where the method proved to be suitable for such applications. 28 On-line radiocarbon monitoring at atmospheric concentrations with high temporal and spatial resolution can give invaluable information on the origin of atmospheric carbon dioxide. This allows for a better understanding of the contribution of carbon of the fossil origin to climate change and can be used to develop more advanced climate models.…”