Simple and fast near-infrared spectroscopic analysis of hydroxyl number of polyol using a disposable glass vial

Hydroxyl (OH) number of polyol was measured using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy with the use of a disposable glass vial as a sample container. Polyols are viscous, so disposable vials are advantageous when spectroscopic methods are employed. Due to the curvature of the vial walls, a narrow aperture was used to minimize the spectroscopic deviations. The narrow aperture attenuated the NIR radiation and increased the spectral noise in the collected polyol spectra. Wavelet transformation (WT) was employed to reduce this noise and partial least squares (PLS) calibration model was developed. The overall prediction results compare well with those from conventional wet analysis that requires time (1–3 h) and large amounts of chemical reagents. NIR spectroscopy with the use of disposable vials can be utilized for a simple and fast quality assurance of polyol in actual industrial settings.