Color Measurement for Petroleum Products: A Short Review

Abstract

Color is a quantifiable property that conveys information on the type and quality of a sample. In the petroleum industry, color serves as an important indicator to determine a suitable refinement process and monitor the level of contamination in petroleum products. Since the acceptability of a product relies on color, it is crucial for it to meet the standard of visual perception. Colors can be quantified in various ways, the best of which is with the human eye. However, this method is found to be inaccurate and inconsistent, as every human being has a slightly different perception of color expression. Thus, numerous strategies have been developed to overcome the reliance on the human eye, primarily by using instruments such as colorimeters or spectrophotometers. The color measurement advancements have mostly concentrated on modifying existing instruments rather than the method itself. However, as the world is moving towards digital transformation through the Industry 4.0 drive, there is great effort to replace the available methods with automated color determination through a correlation model. It is expected that this new method can be an alternative to conventional laboratory analysis. Hence, this review has focused on the methods and global standards used to measure the color of petroleum products. Besides that, an overview of the factors that can influence color measurement and correlation model development between petroleum colors and their properties have been discussed. It is predicted that this study will lead to further exploration and advancement in color measurement technology, especially in the petroleum industry.