Multivariate calibration in Fourier transform infrared spectrometry as a tool to detect adulterations in Brazilian gasoline

In the present work, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) in association with multivariate chemometrics classification techniques was employed to identify gasoline samples adulterated with diesel oil, kerosene, turpentine spirit or thinner. Results indicated that partial least squares (PLS) models based on infrared spectra were proven suitable as practical analytical methods for predicting adulterant content in gasoline in the volume fraction range from 0% to 50%. The results obtained by PLS provided prediction errors lower than 2% (v/v) for all adulterant determined. Additionally, Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) was performed using all spectral data (650–3700 cm−1) for sample classification into adulterant classes defined by training set and the results indicated that undoubted adulteration detection was possible but identification of the adulterant was subject to misclassification errors, specially for kerosene and turpentine adulterated samples, and must be carefully examined. Quality control and police laboratories for gasoline analysis should employ the proposed methods for rapid screening analysis for qualitative monitoring purposes.