ASTM D6122-19

5.1 The primary purpose of this practice is to permit the user to validate numerical values produced by a multivariate, infrared or near-infrared laboratory or process (online or at-line) analyzer calibrated to measure a specific chemical concentration, chemical property, or physical property. If the analyzer results agree with the primary test method to within limits based on the multivariate model for the user-prespecified statistical confidence level, these results can be considered ’validated’ to the user pre-specified confidence limit for a specific application, and hence can be considered useful for that specific application.

5.2 Procedures are described for verifying that the instrument, the model, and the analyzer system are stable and properly operating.

5.3 A multivariate analyzer system inherently utilizes a multivariate calibration model. In practice, the model both implicitly and explicitly spans some subset of the population of all possible samples that could be in the complete multivariate sample space. The model is applicable only to samples that fall within the subset population used in the model construction. A sample measurement cannot be validated unless applicability is established. Applicability cannot be assumed.

1.1 This practice covers requirements for the validation of measurements made by laboratory or process (online or at-line) near- or mid-infrared analyzers, or both, used in the calculation of physical, chemical, or quality parameters (that is, properties) of liquid petroleum products and fuels. The properties are calculated from spectroscopic data using multivariate modeling methods. The requirements include verification of adequate instrument performance, verification of the applicability of the calibration model to the spectrum of the sample under test, and verification that the degree of agreement between the results calculated from the infrared measurements and the results produced by the PTM used for the development of the calibration model meets user-specified requirements. Initially, a limited number of validation samples representative of current production are used to do a local validation. When there is an adequate number of validation samples with sufficient variation in both property level and sample composition to span the model calibration space, the statistical methodology of Practice D6708 can be used to provide general validation of this equivalence over the complete operating range of the analyzer. For cases where adequate property and composition variation is not achieved, local validation continues to be used.

1.2 Multiple physical, chemical, or quality properties of the sample under test are typically predicted from a single spectral measurement. In applying this practice, each property prediction is validated separately. The separate validation procedures for each property may share common features, and be affected by common effects, but the performance of each property prediction is evaluated independently. The user will typically have multiple validation procedures running simultaneously in parallel.

1.3 Results used in analyzer validation are for samples that were not used in the development of the multivariate model, and for spectra which are not outliers or nearest neighbor inliers relative to the multivariate model.

1.4 When the number, composition range or property range of available validation samples do not span the model calibration range, a local validation is done using available samples representative of current production. When the number, composition range and property range of available validation samples becomes comparable to those of the model calibration set, a general validation can be done.

1.5 This practice does not cover procedures for establishing the calibration model (correlation) used by the analyzer. Calibration procedures are covered in Practices E1655 and references therein.

1.6 This practice is intended as a review for experienced persons. For novices, this practice will serve as an overview of techniques used to verify instrument performance, to verify model applicability to the spectrum of the sample under test, and to verify equivalence between the parameters calculated from the infrared measurement and the results of the primary test method measurement.

1.7 This practice teaches and recommends appropriate statistical tools, outlier detection methods, for determining whether the spectrum of the sample under test is a member of the population of spectra used for the analyzer calibration. The statistical tools are used to determine if the infrared measurement results in a valid property or parameter estimate.

1.8 The outlier detection methods do not define criteria to determine whether the sample or the instrument is the cause of an outlier measurement. Thus, the operator who is measuring samples on a routine basis will find criteria to determine that a spectral measurement lies outside the calibration, but will not have specific information on the cause of the outlier. This practice does suggest methods by which instrument performance tests can be used to indicate if the outlier methods are responding to changes in the instrument response.

1.9 This practice is not intended as a quantitative performance standard for the comparison of analyzers of different design.

1.10 Although this practice deals primarily with validation of infrared analyzers, the procedures and statistical tests described herein are also applicable to other types of analyzers which employ multivariate models.

1.11 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

1.12 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.