Thermal desorption-photoionization ion mobility-electronic nose (TD-PIM-Nose) with distance-probability joint decision SVM algorithm: A novel system for Daqu Grade identification

Electronic nose is a bionic technology that uses sensor arrays and pattern recognition algorithms to mimic the human olfactory system. This study developed a thermal desorption-photoionization ion mobility-electronic nose (TD-PIM-Nose) system, employing thermal desorption for direct sampling and humidity control, with a photoionization ion mobility tube as virtual sensor array for component separation and detection, and pattern recognition algorithms for signal processing to differentiate and identify samples. Furthermore, it was applied to assess four quality grades of Daqu samples (“Excellent+”, “Excellent”, “Grade I”, and “Grade II”) determined by the Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) method. Characteristic compound differences among these grades were identified using fingerprint spectra and reduced mobility values. A distance-probability joint decision support vector machine (SVM) algorithm model was established, validated against sensory CATA standards. Results showed identification accuracies: 90 %, 90 %, 96.88 %, and 100 % for respective grades. These findings demonstrated the promising potential of the TD-PIM-Nose system in Daqu quality grading. •A novel electronic nose system, termed TD-PIM-Nose, was developed.•A distance-probability joint decision SVM algorithm was designed.•First successful application of TD-PIM-Nose system in Daqu grade identification.