Fluorescence based global fuel analysis method

A method of fuel analysis comprising:

• (a) acquiring a fuel sample;
• (b) subjecting the fuel sample to fluorescence spectroscopy to generate a measured emission spectrum, wherein the fuel comprises a fuel marker and a fuel matrix, wherein the measured emission spectrum comprises a first spectral component corresponding to type and amount of fuel marker in the fuel sample, a second spectral component corresponding to a spectral perturbation, and a third spectral component corresponding to fuel matrix fluorescence, and wherein the spectral perturbation comprises fuel marker solvatochromism;
• (c) deconvoluting the measured emission spectrum to yield a deconvoluted measured emission spectrum, wherein deconvoluting the measured emission spectrum comprises the removal of the third spectral component from the measured emission spectrum to yield the deconvoluted measured emission spectrum, and wherein the deconvoluted measured emission spectrum comprises the first spectral component and the second spectral component;
• (d) decoupling the deconvoluted measured emission spectrum to yield a corrected emission spectrum via a projection function, wherein the corrected emission spectrum comprises the first spectral component, and wherein the projection function orthogonally projects the deconvoluted measured emission spectrum onto a subspace devoid of the second spectral component to yield the corrected emission spectrum;
• (e) determining the amount of fuel marker in the fuel sample from the corrected emission spectrum;
• and
• (f) determining adulteration of the fuel by comparing the amount of fuel marker in the fuel sample to a target amount of fuel marker, wherein the target amount of fuel marker is a known amount of fuel marker used to mark the fuel by a fuel supplier.