Prediction of Flash Points for Fuel Mixtures Using Machine Learning and a Novel Equation

Abstract

In this work, a set of computationally efficient, yet accurate, methods to predict flash points of fuel mixtures based solely on their chemical structures and mole fractions was developed. Two approaches were tested using data obtained from the existing literature: (1) machine learning directly applied to mixture flash point data (the mixture QSPR approach) using additive descriptors and (2) machine learning applied to pure compound properties (the QSPR approach) in combination with Le Chatelier rule based calculations. It was found that the second method performs better than the first with the available databank and for the target application. We proposed a novel equation, and we evaluated the performance of the resulting, fully predictive, Le Chatelier rule based approach on new experimental data of surrogate jet and diesel fuels, yielding excellent results. We predicted the variation in flash point of diesel–gasoline blends with increasing proportions of gasoline.