Raman Spectroscopy with

Concatenated Laser System

Fuel is still an extremely reliable source of power especially in natural disasters and for heavy machinery. With this said the number one reason for equipment failure in natural disaster relief programs is due to bad fuel. This is not because the fuel is bad or unreliable, but because this gasoline or diesel is from emergency storage tanks that are often not checked regularly or before use in a natural disaster situation. When storage tanks that contain fuel go unchecked, they can start to collect water, and eventually that water will develop bacteria which will feed off the fossil fuels creating clusters called sludge. This water contamination is the first step in causing bacteria and other growths in the fuel to make it unusable.
In today’s market, there are kits for detecting water contamination or bacterial growth in the fuel. However, these kits either use chemical reactions with the fuel and/or take a long time for the results. Many of these are also based on a qualitative measurement such as color or physical separation of the mixture. We think there could be a more effective way to measure fuel quantitatively in a short amount of time without using chemicals. This is where we would use optical technology and machine learning to do so, by use of Raman Spectroscopy using a Concatenated Laser system (RSCL). This system can detect water content among other substances and chemicals by using a Raman spectroscopy setup with two lasers rather than the typical one laser system. There are Raman spectroscopy systems already created to find chemicals in fuel, however, there is only proof of one current Raman probe that uses a dual-wavelength system and that is Innovative Photonic Solutions (IPS). They hold the patent for the probe.
The RSCL will be portable and easy to use within minutes, for quick fuel analyzations on the spot in the field. It will be made with the user and safety in mind, whether the user is a technician or an engineer. Looking further on, the RSCL can be used for more purposes than just fuel. It could be accommodated to find water in different chemicals and substances.

Group Sponsors

We would like to thank Ocean Insight
as well as


Innovative Photonics Solutions for sponsoring this project.