Fuel adulteration detection using long period fiber grating sensor technology

Abstract

Adulteration of petrol and diesel with kerosene is a common malpractice in India because kerosene has been made easily accessible at a price much cheaper than that of petrol and diesel. Such adulteration results in increased pollution, decrease in engine or machine performance, reduced lifetime of components, lower returns for money of the buyers and decrease in availability of kerosene to the needy people. There is no standard technique that is followed universally for detection of adulteration level. In this study, application potential of long period fiber grating (LPFG) sensor technology to detect fuel adulteration has been investigated. It was possible to detect presence of 10% contaminant in petrol and diesel using LPFG technique whereas the traditional technologies are able to detect presence of about more than 20% of the same.