Application of non-negative matrix factorization for the deconvolution of petroleum mixtures using mid FTIR analysis

The aim of this study was to develop an efficient, in terms of both time and cost, but still reliable methodology, capable of identifying the chemical fractions in complex commercial petroleum products. The performance of a methodology based on Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) analytical signals is demonstrated, combined with a modified factorization algorithm to solve this “mixture problem”. The results of this innovative work, regarding both the application of the adapted deconvolution technique to petroleum analysis and its self-adaptation to data without any former initialization, indicate that it is possible to reveal the content in a chemically complex petroleum mixture, working solely with the infrared signals of a limited number of samples and without any other a priori information. A focus application of the proposed methodology is the quality control of commercial gasoline by identifying and quantifying the individual fractions used for its formulation.