Adulteration Detection using Sound/Ultrasound-A New Method

As mentioned in the previous section, the adulteration leads to the change in density as well as viscosity of the fuel. Since both these parameters influence the speed of sound in a fluid, it is expected that the speed of sound in the adulterated fuel would be different from that in un-adulterated fuel (Thomas K V et.al. 2004). The effect of adulteration of petrol by diesel and diesel by kerosene on the speed of sound in the fuel sample has been investigated by the authors. The experimental method followed is described in following sub-sections. Working Principle: For determination of speed of sound, the time taken by the sound to travel a known distance (commonly termed as Time of Flight or TOF) is to be determined. There are two basic methods for determination of TOF.

(A) Pulse-Echo (PE) Method:

The schematic of the basic experimental set up for this method is shown in Fig. 3. The transmitter TX, excited by an electrical signal of sonic/ultrasonic frequency, emits a pulse of acoustic energy of a short duration. In general, the transmitting transducer TX also serves as receiving transducer RX (converting received acoustic pulse into electrical signal). The time delay TD between the transmitted and the received pulse (after reflection from a target) is measured. The value of TD is related with the speed of sound by the equation,
Speed of sound,Vs=2d/TD Options

where d is the distance between the TX/TR and the reflector.

This simple principle of measurement gets considerably complicated due to the following:

The transducer TX / RX (generally ultrasonic piezoelectric crystals) has narrow bandwidth, which causes the long ringing tails in the emitted pulse. So there is no sharply defined start and end point of the pulse emitted.

The emitted acoustic pulse gets attenuated in the medium. The attenuation is proportional to the square of the frequency. Therefore, the higher frequency components of the pulse get more attenuated than its lower frequency components. As a result, the received pulse is broadened more as compared to the transmitted one.

Noise also corrupts the received pulse.

Echoes from other objects make it difficult to identify the echo from the object under study.

The resolution (for distance measurement) is limited by the width of the acoustic pulse.

Simple threshold technique, for measurement of TD , leads to low accuracy in the measurements. Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques have been developed to measure TD more accurately (Parrilla et.al. 1991). In these techniques, the envelops of the echoes from a reference object and other echo signals, are extracted and a value of TD , for which there is maximum similarity between the reference and echo signals, is determined, using DSP algorithms. The algorithms used for the purpose are norms L1, L2 and correlation. The procedure is computation intensive and requires considerable dedicated hardware. However, the development of FPGAs has made it easy and cost effective to design correlation detector required for the purpose (Urena J et.al 1999). Cross correlation between the transmitted and the received signals has also been used to determine TD . More recently the use of wavelet networks, for more accurate measurement of TD has been reported (Grimaldi D 2006). An interesting method using self-interference of transmitted pulses has been proposed for accurate measurement of Time of Flight (Cai C et.al. 1993). In this method, transmitter emits two pulse trains which interfere with each other in such a way that the wave envelope becomes zero at certain time instant. The time interval between the two pulse trains is so chosen that the envelope zero is halfway between the two waves. The time instants of zero envelope amplitudes are detected and used for determination of TOF. Analysis of sonar pulses emitted by bats has shown that emissions from each bat are uniquely frequency modulated which enables the bat in distinguishing its own emissions from those of other bats. This principle has been implemented in digital polarity correlation detection method. The cross correlation function for clipped

transmitted and received signals has been used for measurement of TOF in digital polarity correlation detection method (Nakahira K et.al 2001). A variation of conventional pulse echo method uses Binary- FrequencyShift- Keyed (BFSK) signal. The time instant where the transition between each frequency occurs is detected and used for determination of TOF (Webster D 1994). This method offers significant improvement in respect of reduction of measurement errors as compared to correlation-based methods.

Methods for estimation of Fuel Adulteration

The American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM International) has developed and documented the test methods for most of the widely used materials including petroleum products. Many ASTM tests for the gasoline and diesel have been standardized and documented. Some of these tests involve determination of physical and chemical properties while others provide a measure of suitability of the fuel for use in automobiles from the point of engine performance / air pollution generated. Though no test is specifically designed to measure the adulteration of petrol by mixing diesel or diesel by mixing kerosene, some tests namely Density test, Evaporation test, Distillation test, Chemical Marker test, Gas Chromatography may be used to determine the adulteration of fuel also. However, none of these methods are suitable for adulteration test in the context mentioned in section-1, as pointed out below.

Density Test (ASTM D4052):

Hydrometers and digital densitometers are used to measure the density of the fuel sample. The reported densities of gasoline, diesel and kerosene at 150C are in the ranges 0.74-0.75 Kg./L, 0.835-0.855 Kg./L and 0.79-0.80Kg./L respectively. The adulteration causes a change in the density which can be correlated with the adulteration. The method has the advantage that densitometer provides very good accuracy but suffers from the disadvantages that (i) densitometers are expensive and need a controlled environment (for correct operation) which is unlikely to be available in the field at the distribution point and (ii) the change in density is very small even for high level of adulteration as reported in the literature and reproduced below.
Diesel and Kerosene Proportions No. (v/v) (g/ml) (Cst) Density at 15C Kinematic Viscosity at 40C

Pure Diesel

0.8456

2.63

Prescribed Level

0.82-0.86

2 to 3

85:15

0.8400

2.33

75:25

0.8390

2.16

65:35

0.8321

1.89

50:50

0.8304

1.83

25:75

0.8234

1.5

TABLE 1.
Density and kinematic viscosity of diesel fuel and adulterant kerosene at different proportions (reprinted from Sh. R. Yadav, et.al, 2005). Similar results for density variation in gasoline and diesel as a function of % adulteration by diesel and kerosene respectively has also been reported by Sharma and Gupta-2007. Therefore the overall sensitivity of this method is rather poor if the change in density is used as an indicator of extent of adulteration. However as evident from Table 1, the viscosity of the fuel shows a considerably stronger dependence on the % adulteration and therefore should be a preferred parameter to be calibrated against % adulteration. Evaporation Test (ASTM D3810): The evaporation techniques are capable of detecting very low concentrations (1-2%) of diesel in gasoline and fairly low concentrations (5%) of kerosene in gasoline. However this is basically a laboratory technique and is not suitable for field use.

Distillation Test (ASTM D86): This technique exploits the difference in the boiling points of different liquids comprising the fuel sample. Accurate distillation data for uncontaminated fuel is essential for comparison and precise results. The

technique, however, is not suitable for field use as the measurement set up is generally bulky and measurement process is time consuming.

Gas Chromatography (GC): GC is powerful laboratory tool which can be used to detect hydrocarbon based adulterants. However it requires an experienced technician to operate the equipment and interpret the results. It is an effective method for detection of adulterants in gasoline and diesel but would require easily portable, robust and user friendly equipment which may be operated by an inexperienced operator also.

Adulteration Estimation/Detection using Optical Fiber Sensor: A technique for detection/estimation of adulteration of petrol/ diesel by kerosene using optical fiber sensor has been reported by Roy S. (1999). The technique exploits the change in refractive index and therefore the evanescent absorption of monochromatic light in petrol/diesel when the same is adulterated by mixing kerosene. Optical fiber acts as a wave guide for light if the cladding has a lower refractive index than that of fiber material. When the light is reflected from the interface of the fiber and the cladding (or any other material surrounding the fiber), the field associated with the light wave extends beyond the interface into the surrounding medium. The amplitude of this field decreases exponentially with distance from the interface. If the surrounding material absorbs some part of the light propagating through the fiber, the power received at the other end of the fiber would be less by the amount absorbed by the surrounding medium. This idea has been implemented in the experimental set up shown below (Roy S. 1999). The light source in fig. 1 is a He-Ne laser which is coupled with the optical fiber through a lens. The length of the fiber within the vessel containing the fuel under test is unclad so that the fiber is directly in contact with the absorbing medium that is, the fuel under test. The received power is measured by the power meter.

FIGURE 1.
Optical Fiber Sensor and associated experimental Set up (Reprinted from Roy S., 1999).

The power received by the power meter is reduced by the amount that is absorbed by the fuel through evanescent absorption. The received power at the detector is given by the expression,
P(L) = P0. exp (.L) Options

where L is length of the unclad optical fiber and P0 is the power transmitted from the laser source end. The parameter is evanescent absorption coefficient of the fuel and the factor exp (-.L) accounts for the power absorbed by the fuel through evanescent absorption. The power P (L) is a sensitive function of which itself depends upon the refractive index of the fuel. The dependence of P (L) and (also refractive index of the fuel) have been experimentally investigated by Roy S. (1999) for petrol and diesel adulterated with kerosene. The method is particularly suitable for adulteration detection in petrol as its refractive index (< 1.42) remains lower than that of core of the optical fiber i.e. silica (refractive index =1.457) even after mixing with 50% kerosene which results in smooth ( and almost linear) variation of received power with % adulteration. The received power normalized with respect to P0, as observed for petrol adulterated with kerosene are shown in Fig.2. The similar experimental results for diesel adulterated with kerosene are not consistent with the theory and so are not reproduced here.

FIGURE 2.
Normalized power as a function of volume% concentration of kerosene in petrol (Reprinted fromRoy S., 1999). The note worthy feature of this method is that the sensitivity of the sensor can be effectively varied by changing the L, the length of unclad fiber because the received power P (L) varies exponentially with L.