1 research outputs found
Reflection and transmission mid-infrared spectroscopy for rapid determination of coal properties by multivariate analysis
In the present paper, the influence of different acquisition techniques (transmission, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform and attenuated
total reflectance) in the determination of nine coal properties related to combustion power plants has been studied. Raw coal samples of different
origins were pooled for developing a correlation between the resultant spectra and the corresponding coal properties by multivariate analysis
techniques. Thus, the existent collinearity in mid-infrared coal spectra led to the application of partial least squares regression (PLS), studying
simultaneously the influence of different spectroscopic units as well as several spectral data mathematical pre-treatments. On the other hand, a
principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a relationship between principal components and coal composition in both transmission and reflection
techniques. Although the best accuracy and precision results were obtained for coal properties related to organic matter, the system was also able
to differentiate coal samples attending to the presence of a specific mineral matter, kaolinite.The authors are grateful to the European Coal and Steel Community for funding this research within the framework of Project 7220-PR/118.Peer reviewe