ANALYZING THE PRESENCE OF LARD FROM

ELECTRONIC NOSE DATA

SYED MASRUR BILLAH 1425275

PROJECT SUPERVISOR: DR. HASAN FIRDAUS MOHD ZAKI

DEPARTMENT OF MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING

KULLIYYAH OF ENGINEERING

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECEMBER 2018

1
 ANALYZING THE PRESENCE OF LARD FROM

ELECTRONIC NOSE DATA

SYED MASRUR BILLAH 1425275

PROJECT SUPERVISOR: DR. HASAN FIRDAUS MOHD ZAKI

DEPARTMENT OF MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING

KULLIYYAH OF ENGINEERING

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECEMBER 2018

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING IN

MECHATRONICS

2
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own investigations, except

where otherwise stated. I also declare that it hasn’t been previously concurrently

submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institution.

Syed Masrur Billah (1425275)

Signature: ……………………………….. Date:

……………………..

3
 APPROVAL

I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it

confirms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope

and quality, as Final Year Project report as partial fulfilment for a degree of Bachelor of

Engineering (Mechatronics) (Honours).

……….………………………………………..

DR. HASAN FIRDAUS MOHD ZAKI

Supervisor

4
 ABSTRACT

Electronic nose systems are developing day by day in accuracy and efficiency

with the use of various types of gas sensors and implementing different types of pattern

recognition method. Mostly electronic noses those were used to detect and identify the

volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethanol that can rapidly evaporate at the

room temperature have come across variety of gas sensing applications. This paper

presents the study of using an artificial olfactory system to detect the presence of lard.

Besides, this paper also describes how our device can be used to detect beef, chicken and

differentiate lard from it. The proposed system consists of three metal oxide gas sensors, a

microcontroller to analyze the data and control the output and a LCD display. MQ138,

TGS2620 and TGS2602 sensors will be used in this project. Furthermore, the outlines of

processing data are presented along with the calculation. We will apply machine learning

algorithm to train our device. We sincerely hope that our device will give satisfactory

results and consumers can be benefited from it.

5
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I am truly obliged to Allah (SWT) who has bestowed me the patience,

knowledge and ability to accomplish my goal. Without His help, I would be unable to

complete this project.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Hasan Firdaus

Mohd Zaki for his help, support and much needed encouragement. His supportive advice

and motivation encouraged me to work on this project. He arranged transfer knowledge

session so that I could gather knowledge from previous project and work accordingly. I am

sharing this project with my fellow mate brother Asrul Mahdi whose supervisor is Dr. Azhar

Mohd Ibrahim. It will be very unethical if I don’t agree that how much motivation and

support he has given me and my partner throughout the whole semester.

I also would like to extend my gratitude to the Kulliyyah of Engineering (KOE)

and all of the staff members and lab technicians for the invaluable advice and suggestions

they provided me without which it would not have been possible to complete this report.

At last, I am grateful to my parents for encouragement, advice for this project. I

am also grateful to my friends who have given advices throughout this project and spent

their valuable time to help me in this project and to compile this report.

6
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE i
DECLARATION iii
APPROVAL iv
ABSTRACT v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF FIGURES xi
LIST OF TABLES xii

CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Overview 1
1.2 Problem Statement 2
1.3 Objective of the Study 4
1.4 Significance and Benefit of this paper 4
1.5 Methodology 5
1.6 Outlines of the Report 6

CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 What is Lard? 8
2.2 Olfactory System in Human Body 10
2.3 History of Electronic Nose 13
2.4 Principle of operation of E‐nose systems 15
2.5 Application of Electronic Nose 16
2.5.1 Electronic Nose in Food Industry 17
2.5.2 Electronic Nose for Medical Pathology 19
2.5.3 Electronic Nose for Environmental Monitoring 20
2.5.4 Electronic Nose for Explosive Detection 21
2.6 Alternative Methods (Previous Studies) 22
2.6.1 Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) 22
2.6.2 Molecular Biology Technique (MBT) 23
2.6.3 High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) 24
2.6.4 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) 26
2.7 Why Electronic Nose? 29
2.8 Electronic Nose Detection Sensor Type 32
2.8.1 Amperometric Gas Sensors (AGS) 33
2.8.2 Metal Oxide Semiconductors (MOS) Gas Sensors 34
2.8.3 Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Sensor 35
2.8.4 Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gas sensors 36
2.9 Summary 36

CHAPTER 3 : SYSTEM DESIGN AND COMPONENT SELECTION 38

3.1 Electronic Nose Features 38
3.2 Gas Sensor Selection 39

7
 3.2.1 MQ138 Gas Sensor 39
3.2.2 TGS2602 Gas Sensor 41
3.2.3 TGS2620 Gas Sensor 43
3.3 Signal Conditioning Circuit 44
3.4 LCD Display 46
3.5 Peltier for Heating 48
3.6 Processing Data 49
3.6.1 Microcontroller Selection 49
3.6.2 Development of Machine Learning Algorithm 52
3.6.2.1 Support Vector Machine (SVM) 53

CHAPTER 4 : PRELIMINARY RESULT AND DISCUSSION 55

4.1 Project Flow for FYP1 55
4.2 Future Plan for FYP2 57

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 60
REFERENCES 62

8
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 : Electronic Nose 2

Figure 1.2 : Project Methodology 6
Figure 2.1 : Example of pastry using lard as shortening 9
Figure 2.2 : Location of the olfactory epithelium of a human 12
Figure 2.3 : Mammalian olfactory system and Electronic Nose system 15
Figure 2.4 : Summary of Electronic Nose Usage in Different Sector 17
Figure 2.5 : Electronic nose for Food Industry 18
Figure 2.6 : Chemical structure of polypyrrole 19
Figure 2.7 : Bomb Explosive Detector 22
Figure 2.8 : Extraction of DNA 24
Figure 2.9 : Experimental Setup for Analysis Using HPLC 26
Figure 2.10 : Image of cat in infrared 27
Figure 2.11 : FTIR Spectroscopy 28
Figure 2.12 : Functional Decomposition of Electronic Nose 31
Figure 2.13 : Schematic of MOSFET Gas Sensor 34
Figure 2.14 : Surface acoustic wave sensor 35
Figure 3.1 : Architecture of E-Nose 38
Figure 3.2 : MQ138 Gas Sensor 39
Figure 3.3 : MQ138 Structure and Basic Measuring Circuit 40
Figure 3.4 : TGS 2602 Gas Sensor 41
Figure 3.5 : Basic Circuit for TGS 2602/2620 42
Figure 3.6 : TGS 2620 Gas Sensor 43
Figure 3.7 : TGS 2620/2602 Dimensions and Pin Connection 44
Figure 3.8 : The Wheatstone Bridge Circuit Arrangement 45
Figure 3.9 : Circuit Block Diagram 46
Figure 3.10 : Figure of I2C 16x02 Serial LCD Module 47
Figure 3.11 : Arduino Pro Mini ATmega328 50
Figure 3.12 : ATmega328 Schematic Diagram 51
Figure 3.13 : SVM classification 53

9
LIST OF TABLES

10
 ABBREVIATION

AGS Amperometric Gas Sensors

CB Catalyc Bead
CNS Central Nervous compound
DSC Differential Scanning Calorimetry
FTIR Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation
GS Gas Spectrometry
HPLC High Performance Liquid Chromatography
MBT Molecular Biology Technique
MOS Metal Oxide Semiconductors
MS Mass Spectrometry
QCM Quartz crystal microbalance
SAW Surface Acoustic Sensor
SVM Support Vector Machine
TAG Triacylglycerol
TGS Taguchi Sensor
VOC Volatile Organic Compound

CHAPTER ONE

INRODUCTION

1.1 Overview

Proper food consumption has been an issue all over the world. We consume

various types of foods but there are some religions and cultures that prohibit some

specific foods. Food products containing pig and its fat (i.e. lard) are of great concern to

the followers of Islamic and Orthodox Jewish Religions. They don’t entertain such foods

11
which are made of anything from pig. Furthermore, commercial lard goes through the

hydrogenation process which creates artificial trans-fat that can be harmful for our body.

This trans-fat can increase the occurrence of heart attack, heart disease and stroke. It can

raise the level of bad cholesterol known as hypercholesterolemia and can lower the levels

of good cholesterol in the blood and also can make it difficult for the cells in the body to

communicate (Michelle Simmons, 2017). In this biological view of complications and

methods of processing pork and lard and the prohibition of its consumption by some

religions, we can understand that a reliable easy-to-use method is required for the

detection of lard present in any food products.

In the past decades, a lot of researches had been done in order to identify lard

presence. There used to be a couple of methods to do so. Some of them are Fourier

Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, High performance liquid chromatography

(HPLC), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Molecular Biology techniques.

Although these studies were focused mainly on raw or flesh product and only a few

processed products. However, in case of finding the presence of lard in any products

whether it is raw or processed, electronic or artificial nose methodology plays a vital role.

These devices have been used in a wide range of applications. It is not only used for any

food products, but also medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring and household

chemicals. Electronic or artificial noses are being developed as systems for the automatic

detection and classification of any smell, odors, vapors and gases. Developing new

methods for checking the presence of lard or its adulteration in fats, oil and other products

is now drawing supreme importance in order to protect consumers’ rights and food

industries.

12
 Figure 1.1: Electronic Nose (https://i-hls.com/archives/38788)

1.2 Problem Statement

Electronic nose has immensely contributed in the food industry in the past. It is

the right of the consumers to know the ingredients of which the food is made of. In fact, it

is more serious matter for Muslims as lard is Haram (prohibited) in their religion. So, to

make sure whether the food Halal (allowed) or not, we need electronic nose for that

purpose. Allah the Almighty has mentioned in the Holy Qur’an about eating allowed

foods and avoiding forbidden ones:

“O ye people! Eat of what is on earth lawful and good; and do not follow the footsteps of

the evil one for he is to you an avowed enemy.” (2:168)

The consumers concerned will therefore need a device that is portable, handy and

that they can bring it wherever they go, whether it is a restaurant or any food outlet, in

order to test the food before they buy it. Even in some of the pastry products, a small

13
amount of lard is used to make the products better. Now-a-days, the available electronic

noses are either bulky or expensive, and they clearly require a skillful operator for usage.

Therefore, a proper portable odor and gas measurement system associated with multi-

sensors of wide range sensitivity and user-friendly device is much needed in the market.

Being that said, we can conclude that building a portable E-nose with enhanced

methodology selected components, we can satisfy the needs of the consumers.

Now-a-days, electronic nose has already taken its wide range of space in various

industries. So, it is not a new thing that we are going to make in this project. Every

electronic nose is generally composed of a chemical sensing system and a pattern

recognition system for example artificial neural network. We are developing an electronic

nose to detect the presence of lard. As this type of electronic nose has already been made

and some of them are even commercialized in the market so we will be specially focusing

on the sensing system as some of the previous prototypes didn’t succeed in getting

accurate results. The main problem is actually associated with what type of sensors we

are using. To be more accurate and precise about our judgement, only one sensor is just

simply not enough. As a result, in this paper, we are using three metal oxide gas sensors

to examine any food products. So instead of using one sensor we are implementing a

couple of them so that we might get more proper outcomes from the prototype we about

to make.

1.3 Objective of the study

The objectives of this project are as follows:

14
  Construction of a portable device that can identify the presence of lard in the food

using electronic nose method.

 Performance assessment of the developed electronic nose.

 Validation and testing food products sold in the market for the presence of lard

adulteration.

1.4 Significance and Benefit of this paper

In this project, we will design a portable device with an estimated accuracy of greater

than 80 percent to detect the presence of lard in any food and it will portrait the Electronic

nose (E-nose) technology. As this device will be designed as a portable one, then it will

be much easier for consumers to carry it with themselves and to check whether the food

they are having contain any amount of lard in it instantly. One can simply take the E-nose

and put the food on it, and can get the result immediately

Moreover, this study plays an important role in the food market as the device can

check if any of the products supplied contain any lard or not. There might be some

products consisting of lard content without being mentioned on the product’s label, and

this has become a major problem in some of the countries of the world. While for the

researchers, they could use this device to get the result immediately without going to take

the sample to the lab and examine it. It will save time and make the experiment process

much easier.

15
 Upon construction of this device, hopefully in a way this device will help the

ummah to take the food without any fear of the presence of lard or pork in food. This

prototype is unique of its kind to be designed as previously the device constructed

focused on specific food type such as cakes, chocolate and it will integrate a couple of

sensors to make sure the result we get is accurate or not.

1.5 Methodology

There are some procedures to ensure the flow of this project go smoothly. At the

beginning, many types of sources such as articles, online research paper, and journals are

gathered. Then through the sources, many ideas, possibilities and the limitations of the

project are studied and compiled under literature review. Selection of the components

have been done wisely so that the testing can be done properly.

16
 Figure 1.2: Project Methodology

1.6 Outlines of the report

The report consists of five chapters. All the chapters have been summarized as

follows:

17
Chapter 1 : Introduction

 In the first chapter of this paper, it will explain the basic things of our study which

introduction is, objective of the project, problem statement, the significance as

well as the benefits of the study and the overall organization of the chapter.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

 The second chapter will discuss about the literature review of the research. It

includes history of electronic nose and its application. It will also discuss about

the previous methods and studies that had been conducted to detect the presence

of lard in food.

Chapter 3 : System Design and Component Selection

 This chapter will discuss about all the elements we need to build this device and

the methods that will be used in the project including about the sensor,

microcontroller, exhaust fan and LCD display.

Chapter 4: Preliminary Results and Discussion

 The evaluated and preliminary results will be shown in this chapter and brief

discussion on the outcomes in the previous projects.

Chapter 5: Conclusion

 This chapter discusses about the achievement of the objectives, limitations, and

challenges, and the recommendation for the future work of this project.

18
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a brief discussion on the background of lard as well as the history

and applications of E-nose are deliberated. A literature review of existing odor

measurement technologies is discussed. Proper analysis of the functions, strength and

limitations of each technology are studied, followed by a detailed discussion about the

olfactometry system. Furthermore, a complete investigation is done regarding the sensor

arrays available in the field of electronic nose.

2.1 What is Lard?

Lard (pig fat) and oleo (the liquid fraction of beef fat) are widely used in

producing compound such as shortening, which is a mixture of animal fat and vegetable

oil. Lard and its compound have been largely displaced in modern times by compound

fats made from refined coconut oil, palm kernel oil, cotton seed oil, and other vegetable

oils. The term compound fat was first given to mixtures of vegetable oils and animal fat,

but today the modern product is almost universally referred to as shortening and sold

under proprietary names. Commercial shortening is usually prepared by interesterification

of the fat sample. Shortening are very important ingredient for the baking industry, due to

the fact that they comprise from 10% to 50% of most baked products. It is a unique food

ingredient, in that a high degree of interchangeability among the raw materials is possible

for many products and uses. In most applications, shortening are multifunctional.

Shortening provides a heat transfer medium, lubricity and flavor to fried foods as well as

aeration, lubricity and structure to cakes, icings, fillings, crème fillers, whipped toppings,

19
baked pastries, bread and also sweet rolls. Lard enjoyed the position of being the

premium shortening until vegetable shortenings slowly started taking over in the 1920’s

and 1930’s. Vegetable shortening manufacturers found that lard was better than vegetable

oils for certain culinary uses, especially in the baking of cakes. These facts were made

known to the homemaker and commercial bakers in such a convincing manner that lard

shortening soon cut deeply into the sales of vegetable oil. Lard shortening soon surpassed

vegetable oil in sales and have continued to do until the present time. This competition in

the shortening field cause considerable research to be conducted to determine why lard

should be inferior to hydrogenated vegetable oil shortenings and what could be done to

improve lard for culinary purposes. The quality of the lard depends on the area the fat

came from and the method of rendering. The very best is leaf lard, which comes from the

fat around the animal's kidneys. Unprocessed lard has quite a strong flavor and a soft

texture. Lard can be processed in many ways including filtering, bleaching,

hydrogenation and emulsification. In general, processed lard is firmer (about the

consistency of vegetable shortening), has a milder, more nutlike flavor and a longer shelf

life. Lard is richer than many other fats and therefore makes extremely tender, flaky

biscuits and pastries. All lard should be tightly wrapped to prevent absorption of other

flavors and it may be stored at room temperature or in the refrigerator, depending on how

it has been processed.

20
 Figure 2.1: Example of pastry using lard as shortening (Eden Bakery Inc)

2.2 Olfactory System in Human Body

The sense of smell has long played a fundamental role in human development and

biosocial interactions. Accordingly, the olfactory sense has become a key element in the

development of many commercial industries that manipulate the aroma properties of their

manufactured goods in order to improve the product appeal, quality, and consistency so

that consumers can quickly identify with individual brands having unique scents. The

olfactive system brings information about chemical environment. Participating in the

location of potential food, in congeners identification, or in establishment of relations of

communication with the important consequences on the social organization, the olfactive

information controls numerous behaviors. Humans have three distinct chemical senses

which constitute the perception of flavor. These are the sense of taste, the sense of smell

(olfaction), and also trigeminal sense (irritation). The highest significant contribution is

made by the sense of smell. Moreover, the sense of taste and trigeminal sense are much

simpler systems than smell. The sense of smell has a much wider range and more power

of classification than either taste or trigeminal sense. As a result, the sense of smell is

crucial for humans and animals. It is considered one of the most ancient of senses. The

human smelling system, although less sensitive than that of the other mammals, is a

source of information about chemical substances of the environment. The human nose is

capable of recognizing until 4.000 smells at very weak concentrations in smelling

molecules. Because the smells are easily detectable, they are the main motive for

complaints. According to T.C Pearce (2003), humans can recognize and distinguish up to

21
10,000 different substances. Smell allows organisms with olfactory receptors to identify

food, mates, predators, and also provides not only sensual pleasure such as the odor of

flowers, but also alerts such as spoiled food and even chemical dangers. Therefore, it is

one of the most important systems of living organisms. The human vocabulary does not

allow naming exactly a smell as it is possible to do with describing a color. On the other

hand, our memory allows us to associate a smell to a lived situation or to a particularly

striking event. Here are some remarkable chemical substances that we have in the habit of

associating to a name of smell.

Table 2.1: People referring to the smell of some chemical substances

Chemical Substance Name of the Smell

Acetic acid Vinegar

Butyric acid Butter rance

Valeric acid Sweat, perspiration

Formaldehyde Acre, close

Acetaldehyde Fruit, apple

Acetone Sweet fruit

Dimethylsulfure Vegetables in decomposition

Thiolane Gas (product for odorisation some gas)

Hydrogen sulphide Rotten egg

Ethylmercaptan Cabbages in decomposition

Allylmercaptan Garlic

Ammonia Very prickly, irritating

Methylamine Fish in decomposition

22
 Indole, scatole Excrement

Cadaverine Meat in decomposition

Figure 2.2: Location of the olfactory epithelium of a human (John C. Leffingwell,

www.leffingwell.com /olfaction.htm)

The knowledge of the mammalian olfactory system is incomplete, but researchers

are making great progress by conducting experiments in molecular biology. An odor is an

organoleptic attribute observable by the human olfactory organ upon sniffing air

containing certain odorants. Therefore, an odor is an effect or a character of odorant that

interferes with people’s enjoyment of life and property, while an odorant is a substance

that stimulates the human olfactory system so that an odor is professed. Odorant

compounds can cause sensory irritation and stimulate sensory nerves to cause

neurochemical changes that can potentially influence health problems. According to

Schiffman (1998), the main complaints of health symptoms from odors range from

irritation of the eye, nose and throat to nausea, headache, vomiting and further to

disturbance, annoyance and depression. Odors are our perceptions of mixtures of volatile

23
organic compounds (VOC). These mixtures are carried by inhaled air to the olfactory

region in the nasal cavities. The olfactory sensors are located in the olfactory epithelium

in the roof of the two nasal cavities between the eyes as shown in Figure 3. According to

Leffingwell (2001), the olfactory sense is capable to differentiate among an infinite

number of chemical compounds at very low concentrations. Apart from that, Leffingwell

(2001) also stated that the olfactory epithelium helps to transport the odorant molecules to

the olfactory receptors which generate the signals that our brain reads as odor. The

olfactory cilia are the places in which molecular reception with the odor occurs and

sensory distribution starts. The olfactory receptor neurons contact odors in the atmosphere

and pass information into the brain. These neuronal cells form axons that are organized

into groups of 10-100 to penetrate the skull’s cribriform plate, terminating at the olfactory

bulb to form synaptic structures called glomeruli. The glomeruli are also connected in

groups and converge to mitral cells. Then, the signals are sent directly to the central

nervous system of the brain and the signaling process is decoded. Finally, the input odor

is interpreted and a response occurs if necessary. Human olfaction system has troubles

during extended exposure to hazardous chemicals, infections, mental state or fatigue of

individual. Hence, a lot of researchers all over the world have been stimulated to discover

a device which can mimic the human’s nose in order to recognize simple or complex

odors which can be used for extended exposure to hazardous chemicals, do not get

infections, never get tired, and have a constant attentive state to the task at hand. For that

purpose, an electric nose is created.

2.3 History of Electronic Nose

24
 Electronic nose technology has been introduced in analytical chemistry for nearly

20 years. The concept behind the technology is the development of an electronic device,

which may be utilized to mimic the biological sense of smell (Persaud and Dodd, 1982;

Gardner and Bartlett, 1994). Biological olfaction works when volatilized molecules bind

to olfactory neuron cell receptors and thereby produce a change in conformation of such

receptors. These changes in conformation induced signal transduction along the olfactory

neurons, which in turn resulted in identification or recognition of smell by Central

Nervous System (CNS). An electronic nose mainly depends on an array of sensors, which

carry an electrical charge or give some other computable result. Volatilized molecules

that pass over this array inconsistently bind with sensors, creating a variation in

conformation and a resultant modification in the conductivity across the sensor. Output

data are collected across a couple of sensors and the data dimensions are compact using

mathematical algorithms to a readily recognizable output, a fingerprint of the particular

volatile. Electronic noses based on the biological model work in a similar manner, albeit

substituting sensors for the receptors, and transmitting the signal to a program for

processing, rather than to the brain. Electronic nose is one example of a growing research

area called biomimetics or biomimicry, which involves human made applications

patterned on natural phenomena. The most common use at the present time for the

electronic nose lies in the food and drink industries. Moreover, electric nose can be used

in other areas such as detection of bomb explosives, classification and deprivation studies

of olive oils, petroleum qualitative and quantitative analysis, development of a field odor

detector for environmental applications, quality management applications in the

automotive industry, analysis of cosmetic raw materials, plus many other important areas

25
such as in the medical and space fields. According to Brezmes et al. (2001), the

introduction of an E-Nose into the area of food is used for quality control, freshness

evaluation, process monitoring, shelf-life investigation and authenticity assessment. Odor

is made up of hundreds of volatile compounds which define the product type and

individual preferences, as well as responsible for off-flavor and taints which may arise in

food.

2.4 Principle of operation of E‐nose systems

The e‐nose attempts to mimic the mammalian nose by using an array of sensors

that can simulate mammalian olfactory responses to aromas. The odor molecules are

drawn into the e‐nose using sampling techniques such as headspace sampling, diffusion

methods, bubblers or pre‐concentrators (Pearce, 2003). The odor sample is drawn across

the sensor array and induces a reversible physical and/or chemical change in the sensing

material, which causes an associated change in electrical properties, such as conductivity

(Harsányi, 2000). Each “cell” in the array can behave like a receptor by responding to

different odors to varying degrees (Shurmer and Gardner, 1992). These changes are

transduced into electrical signals, which are preprocessed and conditioned before

identification by a pattern recognition system as shown in Figure 2.3. The e‐nose system

is designed so that the overall response pattern from the array is unique for a given odor

in a family of odors to be considered by the system.

26
 Figure 2.3: Mammalian olfactory system and Electronic Nose system (K. Arshak, 2013)

2.5 Application of Electronic Nose

Electronic-nose devices have been designed precisely to be applied for numerous

applications in various industrial production developments and this leads to the

application of it being very widespread. A huge variety of industries manufactured on

particular types of products and categories, that is the food, analytical chemistry, drug,

automobile, packaging, biomedical and cosmetic industries operate electronic noses for a

wide and various types of applications with quality control of manufactured and raw

products, authenticity charges of premium products, process design, shelf-life

investigations, freshness and maturity (ripeness) monitoring, microbial pathogen

detection, environmental assessment studies and classification of scents and perfumes. In

fact, this technology gives great potential to detect different infective species. There are a

couple of chemical products which are specific to fungal and bacterial species and are

generally used as a useful diagnosis instrument.

One of the advantages of electronic nose is that it can be utilized for active

monitoring system in a storage situation, particularly if linked to a real time neural

network that contains the volatile patterns from non-spoiled paper. This could then be

27
used effectively to provide notice of when circumstances may get compromised and

proper management could be then implemented for reducing loss of valuable cultural

products. It has already been positively demonstrated for identification of moldy grain

and growth of molds in archives, libraries and museums. Sensor technology is also

progressing speedily and other sensor arrays are now accessible with enhanced sensitivity

and stability in various abiotic environments.

Figure 2.4: Summary of Electronic Nose Usage in Different Sector

2.5.1 Electronic Nose in Food Industry

Currently, the largest market for electronic noses is the food industry. The field of

electronic nose applications in the food industry consist inspection of food quality by

odor, automated flavor control, monitoring the fermentation process, control of food

cooking processes, quality valuation in food production, inspection of fish, examining if

orange juice is natural or real, taking care of food and beverage odors, grading whiskey,

28
inspection of beverage containers, checking rancidity of mayonnaise and verifying plastic

wrap for containment of onion odor to name a few (Gomez et al., 2008). In the food-

processing industry quality assurance systems need to be rapid and range from

organoleptic measurement to microbiological surveys. Mostly, qualitative assessment of

food spoilage is made by human sensory panels that evaluate air samples and differentiate

which food products are good or unacceptable. Bacterial contamination of food and

drinks can create unpleasant odors and toxic substances. As a result, different industries

are interested in the application of the e-nose both for monitoring storage quality

degradation and spotting microbial contaminants.

Figure 2.5: Electronic nose for Food Industry

(https://www.engadget.com/2009/05/02/nasas-new-e-nose-can-detect-scent-of-cancerous-

brain-cells/)

One of the earliest reports of e-nose technology applied to food analysis was

described by Rossi et al., in 1996. Early detection of milk spoilage as well as different

concentrations of spoilage bacteria and yeasts were also investigated. The results of these

studies showed that, using an e-nose system it could distinguish between volatile profiles

29
of different species inoculated in milk-based media after two and five hours of incubation.

As well as bacteria like many fungal species were described to play an important role in

the degradation of foodstuffs. Different species have been isolated from food and some

studies have been done on different fungal species isolated from cereal grain and moldy

bread. Electronic nose was used for detection of these contaminations in many cases. In

some cases, electronic noses can be used to augment or replace panels of human experts.

Besides, electronic noses can be used to reduce the amount of analytical chemistry that is

performed in food production especially when qualitative results will do. Russell (1999)

was the first person to focus on the classification of Parmesan cheeses with differing rates

of maturity. The Aromascan e-nose successfully distinguished the two types. They also

were able to characterize Gorgonzola and Cottage cheese using polypyrrole semi-

conductor sensors.

Figure 2.6 : Chemical structure of polypyrrole (K. Arshak, 2013)

2.5.2 Electronic Nose for Medical Pathology

Modern medicine faces the problem and challenge of achieving effective disease

diagnoses through early detections of pathogenesis or disease conditions in order to

simplify the application of rapid treatments, but at the same time dramatically reducing

the insensitivity of diagnostic treatments. Chemical analysis of human biological samples,

such as breath, blood, urine, sweat and skin, are the most common means of diagnosing

30
most pathological conditions. Current clinical chemistry is widely confined to the

investigations of the composition of human fluids. Everyone knows that pathogenic

microbial species produce a variety range of VOCs. But, the application of VOC

chemical analyzers, for example Gas Chromatography or GC/MS, is not cheap at all,

demands highly-skilled personnel and takes time to the extent of preventing early

diagnoses. The relation between varieties in the odor of diseased and healthy human

tissues and detection of human pathogenesis is encouraged by the studies using the

powerful olfactory capabilities of well trained dogs those sense of smell is one million

times higher than human’s in detecting bladder cancer, melanoma tissues as well as breast

and lung cancers. A lot of medical researches have been published to show the

experimental data in the last decade establishing the viability of utilizing the electronic

nose to diagnose human diseases and to detect various pathogenic micro-organisms by the

detection of the VOCs.

2.5.3 Electronic Nose for Environmental Monitoring

Environmental applications of electronic noses include analysis of fuel mixtures,

detection of oil leaks, testing ground water for odors, identification of household odors,

identification of toxic wastes, air quality monitoring, and monitoring factory emissions.

The Electronic Nose flew as an experiment aboard Space Shuttle Discovery with John

Glenn in 1998, providing the first continuous monitoring of an occupied spacecraft. It

performed its scheduled tests successfully, but since there were no outbreaks of pollution

during the mission, the electronic nose didn't get an opportunity to show how it could

help astronauts deal with unexpected problems. The electronic nose developers intend to

31
train their instrument to recognize the 24 chemical compounds on NASA's 24-hour

Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration (SMAC) list that is chemicals that would

be hazardous if they were breathed at a particular concentration for 24 hours or more.

This makes the electronic nose a good monitor for events such as leaks and spills. They

are also working towards giving the electronic nose the ability to categorize substances it

hasn't been trained to name, using the computer model they are developing to select

polymers for the sensing array. It will ultimately be able to learn what the Space Shuttle

or other environments smells like under normal circumstances and sound an alarm if it

detects changes that may be dangerous. One of its primary objectives will be to give early

warning of incipient fires or smolders especially electrical fires by detecting the

chemicals they emit during their earliest stages, long before they would be noticed by a

common household smoke alarm. Electronic nose might one day be put to uses as diverse

as sniffing for explosives at an airport or for unexploded land mines, monitoring the

atmosphere for pollutants, protecting the environments of submarines and other enclosed

places and warning of spills in chemical plants.

2.5.4 Electronic Nose for Explosive Detection

In the security business, the rising worries about explosives and their trafficking

have empowered numerous scientists around the globe to investigate new and powerful

approaches to recognize these materials in situations and spot where they could be a

genuine risk to individuals. The inactive risk of a terrorist attack or an accident on places

like schools, hospitals, stadiums, airports or some other public place, makes it

fundamental for foundations, for example, armed forces or police to depend on a proper

32
recognition and control system for explosives. Electronic noses could turn into a fast and

safe option to detect and alleviate any possible harm that these materials could cause,

besides this technology could be helpful in dangerous situations such as control in

explosive manufacturing sites, humanitarian demining or even in the investigation of a

crime scene (López, 2017). Moreover, todays police in some countries have used FLIR

FIDO X3 as the explosive detection which acts as E-Nose. It is the lightest and most

delicate handheld explosives trace indicator in its field. The battery inside lasts upto to

eight hours. The sample outlines are sampling swipes for surfaces and direct vapour for

bottled liquids. Therefore, it can easily detect homemade, conventional, military and

liquid explosives.

Figure 2.7: Bomb Explosive Detector (Shenzhen GHF Technology Co., Limited)

2.6 Alternative Methods (Previous Studies)

2.6.1 Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

The detection of pork and lard as adulterants has gained considerable importance

and interest in many parts of the world. As a result, another way to detect the presence of

lard was developed as it is known as Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Lambelet

33
and Ganguli (1983) have studied the application of differential scanning calorimetry

(DSC) to detect adulteration of ghee (a popular dairy product in India) with lard. A

method based on fractional crystallization followed by gas chromatographic (GC)

analysis of fatty acid methyl esters has been demonstrated by Farag et al. (2003) to detect

butterfat adulteration with lard. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) is a thermos-

analytical technique for monitoring changes in physical or chemical properties of material

by detecting the heat changes. Thermogram profiles show the presence of lard in food

sample. This method is relatively simple, accurate and minimum amount of sample

needed. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measures the temperatures and heat

flows associated with transitions in materials as a function of time and temperature in a

controlled atmosphere. This measurement provides quantitative and qualitative

information about physical and chemical changes that involve endothermic and

exothermic processes or changes in heat capacity. According to Nagle et al. (1998), gas

chromatography and DSC have been employed to aid human panels to assess the quality

of products through odor evaluation and identification and also to obtain more consistent

results. However, these assistive techniques are not portable, they tend to be expensive

and their performance is relatively slow.

2.6.2 Molecular Biology Technique (MBT)

Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of

biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry,

particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with

understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the

34
interactions between the different types of DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as

learning how these interactions are regulated. Molecular biology methods are used

extensively in modern day drug discovery, food analysis research and development, as

well as diagnostics. Molecular techniques that target cellular compounds, such as DNA,

RNA, proteins, etc. are now not only used by scientists in the field of life sciences, but

also by scientists in the field of engineering. These techniques, such as, polymerase chain

reaction (PCR), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), membrane or slot-blot

hybridization have shown to be helpful for the research of engineers to unravel

mechanistic problems in biological systems. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a

technique used to amplify specific parts of the DNA that is required to produce sufficient

amount of DNA required for analysis. PCR has become one of the many techniques in

molecular biology because it is rapid, cheap and a simple method of producing many

DNA molecules from a source which has little DNA material and also of low quality.

Figure 2.8: Extraction of DNA (Halal Food Industry, UPM)

2.6.3 High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been a breakthrough to

identify individual compounds present in samples quickly. HPLC is a chromatographic

technique that can separate a mixture of compounds and is used in biochemistry and

35
analytical chemistry to identify, quantify and purify the individual components of the

mixture. Saeed. et al. (1989) have reported a method based on HPLC analysis of

derivatized triacylglycerol (TAG). TAG is a structure that exist inside the pork fat, also

known as lard. Pork fat generally has huge amounts of TAG-containing saturated fatty

acids at the Sn-2 position than do fats of other meat origin. So, in the event of any

adulteration or occurrence of pork, the proportion of TAG having saturated fatty acids

(SSU) and TAG having unsaturated fatty acids at the same (Sn-2) position (SUS) in a

sample tended to rise in comparison to the samples those do not have any pork. This

method was used to detect pork as an adulterant in processed beef and mutton mixtures.

According Rashood et al. (1995), HPLC was also used to compare the common merits

between genuine and randomized lard and it was suggested that certain TAG peak ratios

could be used for the determination of lard and randomized lard in food analysis.

However, it has now been realized that qualitative analysis mainly of single component

TAG species may be inadequate. Instead, quantitative data considering the whole TAG

profile might serve better as a characteristic fingerprint of the lard. If such profiles are to

be used to study the effects caused by adulterations, powerful statistical methods to deal

with multivariate data are required to consider differences taking place in the whole

chromatogram. The disadvantages using the HPLC analysis are the high cost for

equipment needed to conduct HPLC analysis. Besides, its operation also is a bit complex,

hence requiring a trained technician to operate the analysis using HPLC. Because of the

speed of the process, the equipment has low sensitivity to some compounds. Another

disadvantage of HPLC to detect lard is that it is not very reliable as proven by Marikkar

36
(2002) that HPLC techniques did not provide any evidence for positive identification

when was used for detection of peanuts fried with lard.

Figure 2.9: Experimental Setup for Analysis Using HPLC (P Rashmin)

2.6.4 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) could provide an alternative

method for predicting odor sensation. Infrared waves have wavelengths longer than

visible and shorter than microwaves and have frequencies which are lower than visible

and higher than microwaves. The infrared region is divided into three types which are

near, mid and far-infrared (Steuer et al. 2001). Near-infrared refers to the part of the

infrared spectrum that is closest to visible light and far-infrared refers to the part that is

closer to the microwave region. Mid-infrared is the region between these two. The

primary source of infrared radiation is heat or known as thermal radiation. The radiation

is actually formed by the motion of atoms and molecules in an item. The higher the

temperature, the more the atoms and molecules move and the more infrared radiation they

produce (Silverstein et al., 1991). Any object radiates in the infrared. Even an ice cube,

37
emits infrared. The image below shows a cat in the infrared. The yellow-white areas are

the warmest and the purple areas are the coldest. This image gives us a different view of a

familiar animal as well as information that we could not get from a visible light picture.

Notice the cold nose and the heat from the cat's eyes, mouth and ears.

Figure 2.10: Image of cat in infrared (http://www.forumsci.co.il/HPLC/FTIR.html)

Spectroscopy that deals with the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum,

that is light with a longer wavelength and lower frequency than visible light. It covers a

range of techniques, mostly based on absorption spectroscopy. It exploits the fact that

molecules absorb specific frequencies that are characteristic of their structure. These

absorptions are resonant frequencies. Hence, the frequency of the absorbed radiation

matches the frequency of the bond or group that vibrates and the energies are actually

determined by the shape of the molecular potential energy surfaces. The bonds between

atoms in the molecule stretch and bend, absorbing infrared energy and creating the

infrared spectrum. A molecule such as H2O will absorb infrared light when the vibration

(stretch or bend) results in a molecular dipole moment change. Infrared absorption occurs

among the ground vibration states, the energy differences and corresponding spectrum,

38
determined by the specific molecular vibrations. The infrared absorption is a net energy

gain for the molecule and recorded as an energy loss for the analysis beam. Gases that

contribute to odour have unique infrared spectra. Phan and Auth (1993) described that

FTIR are capable of measuring chemical compositions in odorous gases, but it cannot be

used to determine the odour strength level by a human nose. According to Whittaker et al.

(2003), the other disadvantages of using FTIR is that it cannot detect atoms or

monoatomic ions as single atomic entities contain no chemical bonds and also FTIR

cannot detect molecules comprised of two identical atoms. Besides that, the device

constructed which used FTIR methodology is quite expensive.

Figure 2.11: FTIR Spectroscopy (http://www.forumsci.co.il/HPLC/FTIR.html)

39
 Table 2.2: Overview of Previous Constructed Device

Criteria Portabil User Friendly Cost Time Taken

Methodology ity for Sampling

Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Not Yes Expensive 3 hour

portable
Fourier Transform Not Yes Expensive 3 hour

Infrared Spectroscopy Portable

(FTIR)
Differential Screening Not Trained Operator Expensive < 3 hour

Chromatography (DSC) Portable Needed

High Performance Liquid Not Trained Operator Expensive < 3 hour

Chromatography (HPLC) Portable Needed

Molecular Biology Portable Yes Extremely 2 hour

Technique expensive

2.7 Why Electronic Nose?

A lot of research groups all over the world have been inspired to invent a tool or

device that is can mimic or perform like the human olfactory system to identify simple or

complex aromas and it is improved or modified so that it can survive exposure to

hazardous compounds, do not get infections, never get tired, and have a constant helpful

state to the task at hand. Generally, electronic nose is a device containing a multi-sensor

40
array module and a pattern recognition module which is able to recognize simple or

complex odor. According to Gardner (1998) who are the researchers who first to apply

the term ‘electronic nose’, “ An electronic nose is an instrument which comprises an array

of electronic chemical sensors with partial specificity and an appropriate pattern

recognition system, capable of recognizing simple or complex odor”. Researchers, led by

Professor Naresh Magan at Cranfield University in UK (N. Magan, 2004), used different

types of electronic nose systems based on conducting polymer sensor arrays or metal

oxide sensor arrays for the rapid and early cost-effective detection of undesirable, harmful

contaminants, toxin and taints in the dairy and bakery industries. In recent years, the

development of innovative instrumentations such as electronic nose has been investigated

and implemented. The available electric nose, often referred as an intelligent device,

however, do not address the current market needs. This is because the market demands a

simple, portable and multifunctional product. In addition to that, the current electronic

noses are also expensive. Most of the commercially available e-nose retails for RM 60k

and above. A hand-held electronic nose is one of the solutions to the market field. The

proposed e-nose is truly a handy, portable product. It can be utilized in any field for

detection and classification sample without even having a computer to process the input

data. We are implementing electronic nose as an instrument to distinguish the presence of

lard in food. The proposed e-nose is designed to be cost effective too. The capability to

consistently count and detect quality factors for example adulteration, impurities and

taints are the answers why industries need electronic nose in guaranteeing product quality

consistency. It also holds many advantages over other methods which include rapid, real-

41
time detection of volatiles and also at cheaper costs. The functional decomposition of the

electronic nose is in the figure 2.9.

Figure 2.12: Functional Decomposition of Electronic Nose (Nagle, 1998)

According to Nagle (1998), electronic nose systems consist of three main

components that operate sequentially on an odor sample a sample-handling unit, a signal-

processing unit, and a pattern recognition system. The output of the electronic nose can be

used to identify a new odor sample that is introduced to the system, to classify different

odor samples, to estimate the odor concentration, and to compute characteristic properties

of the odor. The operating principle of this device started with sampling unit which

contains an array of sensors with broad sensitivities that provide dynamic responses of the

interaction between an odor sample and the sensing elements (K. Arshak et al., 2004). A

fundamental design concept for an array of sensors used in the electronic nose is that each

sensor should have a different sensitivity profile over the range of compounds expected in

the target application. Therefore, the array of sensors provides different response patterns

to different odors. The next element on the functional decomposition is the signal-

processing function. Signal processing is applied for several purposes. Generally, the

responses from the array of sensors are affected by several interfering environment

42
factors such as varying operating temperature and changing relative humidity that give

unstable responses over time (K. Arshak et al., 2004). Signal processing can compensate

for these conditions (Julian W. Gardner and Philip N. Bartlett, 1998). In addition,

reducing the dimensionality of the sensor feature space and extracting informative sensor

features are also performed by the signal-processing block. The last stage is odor

classification. The task of this block is to predict or assign an unknown odor sample to a

predefined class that the device has previously learned from a training dataset. Typically,

the performance of an electronic nose depends heavily on the features being provided to

the odor classification algorithm. If the features are well distinguished for different odors,

a high classification rate can be obtained easily from a simple odor classifier. The idea of

an electronic-nose instrument with an intelligent, chemical array sensor system for aroma

classification resulted from studies of Persaud and Dodd (1982). By that time, the

development of computers and electronic sensors made it conceptually possible to obtain

an electronic device capable of imitating the mammalian olfactory system.

2.8 Electronic Nose Detection Sensor Type

For the analysis of VOCs, chemical sensors have been widely for many purposes.

Employing chemical sensors in an array along with pattern recognition provides a higher

degree of discrimination and reversibility leading to an wide range of applications (James,

Scott, Ã, & Hare, 2005). There are various types of gas sensors have been employed in

the array. These include conducting metal oxide semiconductors, polymers, piezoelectric,

amperometric gas sensors and optical fluorescence. Sensory evaluation using the human

sense of smell is subjective which careful design and rigorous training of assessors which

43
allows it to become a more objective, but still expensive option. Instrumental methods of

determining odors, such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), are also

expensive and require trained personnel. As a result, there has been a drive to establish a

device for rapid inexpensive analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which does

not require specialist technicians. Ideally the device should be portable, allowing direct

on-line or offsite measurements. The device should be less prone to drift, and more

consistent than sensory assessment, but the responses must be correlated with sensory

techniques (James et al., 2005).

2.8.1 Amperometric Gas Sensors (AGS)

AGS involve the measurement of electric current across a working and counter

electrode as a function of analyte concentration in an electrochemical cell. The working

electrode is usually gold or platinum with a porous coating on the sensing side allowing

analyte gas to diffuse through to the electrode surface, which acts as a catalyst for

electrochemical redox reactions (Gardner J W, Bartlett P N, 1998). Based on paper

(Buttner W J, Findlay M, Vickers W, Davis W M, Cespedes E R, Cooper S, Adams J W,

1997), they are delicate to a small range of redox active compounds, and, unlike some

other sensors, Chemical Sensors for Electronic Nose Systems are not sensitive to water

over a wide humidity range. Changing the electrode catalyst and/or potential can alter the

selectivity. AGS have been found to have good selectivity and sensitivity.

44
2.8.2 Metal Oxide Semiconductors (MOS) Gas Sensors

MOS were shown to be gas sensitive by (Seiyama et al, 1962), but unrelated

concurrent work carried out by Taguchi led to the first commercially available MOS gas

sensor in 1968. MOS are one of the most commonly used E-nose sensing technologies.

Commercial Taguchi sensors consist of a ceramic cylinder with 9.5mm in length and ø

3mm approximately containing a heating coil mounted onto a holder. The outside of the

pellet is coated with metal oxide, usually SnO2 doped with a small amount of Pd or Pt

catalyst. Moreover, Taguchi Gas Sensor (TGS) for the detection of the concentration level

of dangerous gases in the air, namely approximation of the characteristics, dependent on

the temperature and relative humidity in the measure point. The obtained results facilitate

the use of these sensors to the measure of gas concentration in the air. Taking into

consideration the danger presented, there were concerns, and equipment for gas detection

already exist. There are a lot of TGS sensor’s type for detection of Volatile Organic

Compound (VOC’s) like methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide,

aldehyde, and et cetera.

Figure 2.13: Schematic of MOSFET Gas Sensor (k. Arshak, 2004)

45
2.8.3 Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Sensor

Apart from that, surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor also is used in electronic

nose detection. The SAW device is composed of a piezoelectric substrate with an input

for transmitting and output receiving interdigital transducer deposited on top of the

substrate (Khlebarov et al., 1992). The sensitive membrane is placed between the

transducers, Figure 12, and an ac signal is applied across the input transducer creating an

acoustic two dimensional wave that propagates along the surface of the crystal at a depth

of one wavelength at operating frequencies between 100 and 400MHz (Pearce et al.,

2003). The mass of the gas sensitive membrane of the SAW device is changed on

interaction with a compatible analyte and causes the frequency of the wave to be altered.

Generally, SAW devices are produced commercially by photolithography, where airbrush

techniques are often used to deposit the thin films (Nagle et al., 1998) approximately 20-

30nm thick. SAW devices have also been produced by utilizing screen printing

techniques, dip coating and spin coating. SAW devices suffer from poor signal to noise

performance because of the high frequencies at which they operate, (Schaller et al., 1998)

and the circuitry required to operate them is complex and expensive (Pearce et al., 2003).

46
 Figure 2.14: Surface acoustic wave sensor (Schaller, 1998)

2.8.4 Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gas sensors

Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gas sensors operate on the same principle as

SAW devices. When an AC voltage is applied across the piezoelectric quartz crystal the

material oscillates at its resonant frequency, normally between 10 and 30MHz (Schaller et

al., 1998). The three-dimensional wave produced, travels through the entire bulk of the

crystal. A membrane is deposited onto the surface of the crystal and this layer adsorbs gas

when exposed to the vapour, which results in an increase in its mass. This increase in

mass alters the resonant frequency of the quartz crystal and this change in resonant

frequency is therefore used for the detection of the vapour (Albert and Lewis, 2000).

2.9 Summary

Electronic noses have already done a lot of widespread effects in the society.

Applications of this system is unlimited. Now-a-days research studies are made to use it

anywhere they want. But the main part that matters for applying it is the sensor array

itself. Sensor plays the vital role to detect the desired matter. The table 2.3 shows some

types of sensors along with their advantages and disadvantages.

47
 Table 2.3: Type of Electronic Nose Sensors

Sensor type Sensitive Sensing Advantages Disadvantages

material Principle
Metal oxides doped semi- resistance Very high High
semiconducting conducting change sensitivity, good temperature
(MOS)` metal precision, limited operation,
oxides (SnO2, sensing limited sensor
GaO) Range and rapid coatings,
response sensitive to
humidity
Catalytic field- catalytic electric Small sensor size, Requires
effect metals field inexpensive environmental
sensors change operating cost control, low
(MOSFET) sensitivity to
ammonia and
carbon
dioxide
Quartz crystal organic or layers mass Good precision, Complex
microbalance inorganic film change diverse range of circuitry, poor
(QCM) (frequency sensor signal-to
shift) coatings, high noise
sensitivity ratio, sensitive
to humidity
and
temperature
Calorimetric or pellistor temperature Fast response and High
catalytic bead or heat recovery time, high temperature
(CB) change specificity for operation,
(from oxidized only
chemical compounds sensitive to
reactions) oxygen-
containing
compounds
Surface organic or layers mass High sensitivity, Complex
acoustic wave inorganic film change good response time, circuitry,
(SAW) (frequency diverse sensor temperature
shift) coatings, small, sensitive,
inexpensive, specificity to
sensitive to all gas analyze
groups
affected by
polymeric-
film
sensor coating

48
 CHAPTER THREE

SYSTEM DESIGN AND COMPONENT SELECTION

This chapter is discussed the methods and component selection that have been

chosen to be used in this project. All of the tools and components selected based on the

previous references that related to the electronic nose. Therefore, the development of the

portable device has been planned to detect the presence of lard in food during FYP2 next

semester.

3.1 Electronic Nose Features

The type of E-Nose will be developed in this study will contain metal oxide gas

sensors, a microcontroller to calculate the data, signal conditioning circuits to get the

value from the sensors, power supply module for running the circuit, peltier to heat the

sample so that the odor can be easily detected, LCD to display the results and axial fans to

control the air flow. The general architecture of electronic nose is shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Architecture of E-Nose

49
3.2 Gas Sensor Selection

The reason we are using gas sensors because they are subtle to volatile organic

compounds (VOCs). In order to detect the presence and concentration of different

dangerous gases and vapours, such as toxic or explosive gases, volatile organic

compounds (VOCs), odours and humidity we need these gas sensors. So, to identify lard

in this project, the designated gas sensors are able to detect VOCs instantly. Metal oxide

gas sensors are normally used in electronic noses for numerous applications including

quality control, pork adulteration and as a formaldehyde sensor. The sensing components

used in metal oxide sensor are Tin dioxide [SnO 2] and tungsten trioxide [WO3]. The use

of these two because both materials are highly sensitive to various types of VOCs. There

are three types of gas sensors that have been tested in this FYP1 in order to get the

affordable values from the food samples which is lard. The gas sensors are TGS 2602,

TGS 2620 and MQ138.

3.2.1 MQ138 Gas Sensor

Figure 3.2: MQ138 Gas Sensor (www.mysensors.org)

MQ138 gas sensor has high sensitivity to aromatic ketone, toluene, ethanol,

benzene, formaldehyde, n-Hexane, NH3, alcohol, smoke and CO also to other organic

steam. This sensor is specially used to detect different organic steam, it is with low cost

50
and suitable for different application. Furthermore, it has consistency in test data error

and that is why it belongs to the mid-range level. Its applications are domestic organic

steam detector, industrial organic steam detector and portable gas detector. Its application

is also applied in breath alcohol detector, solvent detectors, air quality control equipment

for buildings. Besides, MQ138 has its own features which are wide detecting scope, fast

response, high sensitivity, stable and long life, and simple drive circuit. Table 3.1 shows

the specifications of MQ138.

Table 3.1: Specifications of MQ138 (www.mysensors.org)

No Specification
1 Load resistance (RL) can adjust
2 Size (LxWxH): 34mm x24mm x30mm
3 Heater resistance (RH) : 31Ω±3Ω
4 Heating consumption (PH) less than 850mw
5 Circuit voltage (Vc) : 5V±0.1
6 Heating voltage (VH) : 5V±0.1
7 Sensing resistance (Rs) : 20KΩ-200KΩ (1000ppm Benzene )

Figure 3.3: MQ138 Structure and Basic Measuring Circuit (www.mysensors.org)

3.2.2 TGS 2602 Gas Sensor

51
 Figure 3.4: TGS 2602 Gas Sensor (Figaro Engineering Inc. 2005)

The TGS 2602 has high sensitivity to low concentrations of aromatic gases such

as ammonia and H2S that generated from waste materials in office and home

surroundings. The sensor also has high sensitivity to low concentrations of VOCs such as

toluene that emitted from wood finishing and construction products. Besides, Figaro also

proposes a microprocessor (FIC02667) which contains a special software for handling the

sensor's signal for appliance control applications. TGS 2602 needs a heater current of

only 42mA and the device is stored in a standard TO-5 package. Furthermore, the features

of this sensor are high sensitivity to VOCs and odorous gases, low power consumption,

high sensitivity to gaseous air contaminants, long life, uses simple electrical circuit and

has small size. Thus, its specifications also have been shown in Table 3.2.

Table 3.2: Specifications of TGS2602 (Figaro Engineering Inc. 2005)

No Specification

52
 1 Heater resistance (RH): approx. 59Ω at room temp.
2 Heating consumption (PH): 280mw (typical)
3 Sensing resistance (Rs) : 10kΩ-100kΩ in air
4 Circuit voltage (Vc) : 5V±0.2
5 Heating voltage (VH) : 5V±0.2
6 Load resistance (RL) is variable (0.45kΩ min)

Figure 3.5: Basic Circuit for TGS 2602/2620 (Figaro Engineering Inc. 2005)

3.2.3 TGS 2620 Gas Sensor

Figure 3.6: TGS 2620 Gas Sensor (Figaro Engineering Inc. 2005)

53
 TGS 2620 Gas Sensor is primarily produced for industrial applications such as

toxic gas detection and smoke detectors. It has a small size and minimal power utilization.

The article of “Technical Information for TGS2620” by FIGARO Engineering Inc. said

that TGS2600 series is a new kind thick film metal oxide semiconductor, screen printed

gas sensor which deals miniaturization and lower power consumption. Besides, the TGS

2620 displays high sensitivity to the vapors of organic solvents (alcohol) as well as other

volatile vapors such as ethanol, methanol and etc.

Table 3.3: Specifications of TGS2620 (Figaro Engineering Inc. 2005)

No Specification
1 Heater resistance (RH): 83Ω (typical) at room temp.
2 Heating consumption (PH): Approx. 210mW
3 Sensing resistance (Rs) : 1KΩ-5KΩ
4 Heating voltage (VH) : 5V±0.2
5 Load resistance (RL) is variable (0.45kΩ min)
6 Circuit voltage (Vc) : 5V±0.2

54
Figure 3.7: TGS 2620/2602 Dimension & Pin Connection (Figaro Engineering Inc. 2005)

3.3 Signal Conditioning Circuit

The total performance of an electronic nose system will depend on the individual

performance of its principal elements. Although often overlooked, it is clear that careful

design and selection of the front-end signal conditioning circuit is very critical importance

if finest performance of the odour sensing system is to be achieved (Pearce et al., 2003).

Thus, the electrical signal can be created by sensor interfacing so that it reflects the

changes in the sensor parameters being measured. Sensor interface circuit signifies the

first step of electronic instrumentation. Moreover, the type of signal conditioning circuit

for an electronic nose system is dependent on the type of sensor employed (Neaves and

Hatfield, 1994) and should be designed in such a way that the maximum amount of

information is acquired from the sensor. There are many techniques for interfacing

circuit, but for this project, the Wheatstone bridge has been chosen as an interfacing

circuit for sensor response.

55
 Figure 3.8: The Wheatstone Bridge Circuit Arrangement (Arshak et al., 2003)

In the measurement of small resistance changes, the Wheatstone bridge is an

significant alternative to the voltage divider (Arshak et al., 2003). Then, Pierce (2003)

stated that, the highest sensitivity for the Wheatstone bridge can be achieved by choosing

resistors R1, R2 and RL equal to the sensor resistance. However, for the simulation and

based on Figure 3.8, the value for R2 and R3 will be assumed as 1kΩ, while RS and RL

are variable resistors until the best result is obtained for the circuit. The output voltage

(Vout) of the bridge circuit is given by the following equation:

(1)

In addition, the Wheatstone bridge structure is the signal conditioning methodology

which has been used by many commercial gas sensors today (Gardner et al., 2002).

Therefore, the total circuit that we are about to build along with power supply, sensors

with wheatstone bridge circuit and microcontroller is shown in figure 3.9. We are using

Low Pass Filter (LPF) to get the exact values from the sample and cancel other values.

After that, the values will be in analog, so we will have to convert those into digital ones

and then send those to microcontrollers to analyze the data.

56
 Figure 3.9 : Circuit Block Diagram

3.4 LCD Display

LCD is convenient for generating standalone project. At that point, LCD is to

show the estimation of the lard identification concentration, with the goal that the I2C

16x02 LCD module has been utilized in this project. It is able to display interfaced with 2

line 16 characters to an I2C daughter board. The meaning of 12C is to utilize this product

that would be required with LCD display (just four connections, VCC, GND, SDA &

SCL are required) to run. VDC has +5 operation voltage. It is an extraordinary white

content on blue backlight LCD display. The figure for this LCD is shown in Figure 3.15.

57
 Figure 3.10: Figure of I2C 16x02 Serial LCD Module

The advantages of this LCD are that it implements serial port to control, to cut

down the number of cables linking to the hardware and also it does not occupy the

memory space of Arduino as well that it minimize the debugging time through

successfully verifying the code.

Table 3.4: General Specifications of 16x02 LCD Display

No Specification
1 Blue backlight with white characters colour
2 Supply voltage : 5V
3 Size : 80mm x 36mm x 20 mm
4 Viewable area : 66mm x 16mm
5 Interface : Serial Interface
6 Pins Definition : VCC, GND, SDA & SCL
7 Contrast Adjust : Potentiometer
8 Backlight Adjust : Jumper

3.5 Peltier for Heating

Peltier is a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) that can enable an inversion of

variance on each side. For E-nose, it is known as among the best solution. It works mainly

on heat and cool the variable. (Kumar & Ashutosh, 2015) specified that peltier module

contains a ceramic plate in hot and cold junction. However, it can acknowledge about

58
transferring current through two different electrical conductors that can affect the heat to

be either riveted or released at the junctions. In addition, petlier has made theory based on

application of DC voltage. He(peltier) explains that is when DC voltage is applied to the

module, the positive and negative charge carriers in the pellet array will absorb heat

energy from one substrate surface and release it to the substrate at the other side (from

“Peltier Application Note”). It says that when the surface of the module heat energy it

diverts to hot and reverse surface heat energy riveted become cold. It works pretty much

well when the heat has been detached from the hot side of surface. The table below,

shows the specifications of the selected peltier.

Table 3.5: Specifications of peltier

No Specification
1 Voltage : 12V
2 Umax (V) : 15.4V
3 Imax (A) : 6A
4 Model number: TEC1-12706
5 QMax (W) : 92W
6 Dimensions : 40mm x 40mm x 3.6mm

59
 7 Usage: Refrigerator/Warmer
8 Internal resistance: 1.98 Ohm +/- 10%

3.6 Processing Data

3.6.1 Microcontroller Selection

The microcontroller that will be used in this project is Arduino Pro Mini

ATmega328 manufactured by Arduino. We choose this microcontroller because

ATmega328 is thin as just 0.8 mm and it is appropriate with our device. Furthermore, the

ATmega328 contains twice as much memory and storage compared to other

microcontroller. Arduino itself is an open-source physical computing platform based on a

simple I/O board and a development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring

language. Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or can be

connected to software on computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP). The exact figure

for Pro Mini ATmega328 is shown in figure 3.13.

Figure 3.11: Arduino Pro Mini ATmega328 (Photo credit: Arduino)

The Arduino Pro Mini is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328. It

has 14 digital input/output pins of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs, 6 analog inputs,

an on-board resonator, a reset button, and holes for mounting pin headers. A six pin

60
header can be connected to an FTDI cable or Sparkfun breakout board to provide USB

power and communication to the board. The Arduino Pro Mini is intended for semi-

permanent installation in objects or exhibitions. The board comes without pre-mounted

headers, allowing the use of various types of connectors or direct soldering of wires and

the pin layout is compatible with the Arduino Mini.

There are two version of the Pro Mini. One runs at 3.3V and 8 MHz, the other

at 5V and 16 MHz. The microcontroller that will be used in this project is runs at 5V and

16 MHz. Figure below shows the schematic diagram of the microcontroller.

Figure 3.12: ATmega328 Schematic Diagram (Photo credit: Arduino)

The ATmega328 can be programmed with the Ardiuno software and the

software can be easily downloaded from Arduino website. The ATmega328 on the

61
Arduino Pro comes preburned with a boot loader that allows us to upload new code to it

without the use of an external hardware programmer language and the advantage is we

can just use a simple programming language to program it. Below are shown all the

specifications, features and the dimensions of Arduino Pro Mini ATmega328.

Table 3.6 General Specifications of Arduino Pro Mini ATmega328

PARAMETERS VALUE
Operating Voltage 5V
T
Input Voltage 3.35 V-12 V
ab le
Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output)
Analog Input Pins 6
DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA
Flash Memory 16 KB (of which 2 KB used by boot loader)
SRAM 1 KB
EEPROM 512 bytes
Clock Speed 16 MHz

3.7 General Features of Arduino Pro Mini ATmega328

FEATURES
ATmega328 running at 16MHz with external resonator (0.5% tolerance)
USB connection off board
Supports auto-reset
5V regulator
Max 150mA output
Over current protected
Reverse polarity protected
DC input 5V up to 12V
On board Power and Status LEDs

62
3.6.2 Development of Machine Learning Algorithm

The importance of machine learning algorithm is significant because of

classifying and detecting the level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in existing

samples. That is how, by implementing Python application for algorithm of machine

learning will use Support Vector Machine (SVM).

3.8.2.1 Support Vector Machine (SVM)

This machine learning algorithm is one the best for standard supervised learning

algorithm. This idea has been improvised in (Bottou and Vapnik, 1992), to make division

of initial training data set into parts and each part of containing of training data are nearby

to each other. Hence, in E-nose project, SVM algorithm can run and identify the data

values from collected samples as the lard. E-nose will not only be used on pork or the lard

but also it can be processed with other variables like beef chicken. The main reason for

this is to make difference between them.

Let us take an example to elaborate what SVM is actually for. For instance,

someone has visited a zoo and he saw some alligators and crocodiles. Alligators have

wider, U-shaped snouts, while crocodile front ends are more pointed and V-shaped. But

there were some of them which looked absolutely identical. So, it was getting hard for

that person to identify which one is which. Therefore, we can imagine how difficult and

challenging it would be for a computer to precisely classify between a crocodile and an

alligator. A really great algorithm for these types of applications is this SVM. It looks at

63
the extremes of the data sets and draws a decision boundary also known as a hyperplane

near the extreme point in the dataset. So basically, SVM is a frontier which best

segregates any two classes.

Figure 3.13 : SVM classification

So, to know how it works, firstly we have to understand why they are called support

vector machines. Let’s take the figure 3.13 in discussion. We got some sample data over

here of features that classify whether an observed picture is a crocodile or an alligator. So,

for example, in X-axis we take the snout length and tooth shape in Y-axis. Now, if we

assume that crocodiles generally have longer snouts and smaller pointed tooth then we

can categorize class A and B into alligators and crocodiles respectively. So, how we will

decide where to draw our decision boundary also known as hyperplane. In that case, we

can draw the boundary anywhere in the middle of the green triangles and red stars, which

is the whole rectangular blue area. but we need to find the best option. If we do not have

the optimal decision boundary, we could incorrectly classify a crocodile with an alligator.

So, we draw an arbitrary separation line and use intuition to draw it somewhere between

the closest red and green sample points. These points are also called support vectors

(Figure 3.13), which are defined as data points that the margin pushes up against all

points that are close to the opposing class.

64
 Therefore, the algorithm basically implies that only support vectors are important

whereas training examples are ignorable. An example of that is if we have a crocodile

looks like an alligator or an alligator is grown like a crocodile, then we want our classifier

to look at the extremes and set our margins based on these support vectors.

SVMs can be used in multi-dimensional data sets and the data points are referred

to as vectors as they have coordinates within the space of data. So, what we have

discussed so far is also known as Linear Support Vector Machine (LSVM) because the

classes are linearly separable. In our project, as we are detecting the presence of lard in

any food, we will use this algorithm as it is specially used to do binary classification.

CHAPTER FOUR

PRELIMINARY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section covers all kind of actions for FYP1 and it also sets the aim of flow

actions for FYP2 in next semester.

4.1 Project Flow for FYP1

This paper is a literature review of electric nose based on ability to identify the

aroma or lard by via the detection of gas sensor. It also focuses on some significant

ingredients like applications of E-nose in various industrial production processes,

alternative methods for lard detection, detection sensor types and machine learning

algorithms for classification have been identified. To make sure E-nose’s best outcomes,

we have covered knowledge from all aspects. Signal conditioning for gas sensors has

been made on week 10. Previously, some gas sensors have been bought for identification

to detect which one is more efficient than others and that can be proceed for next FYP2

experiment. We all know that there is a lot of variation of gas sensors and every gas

65
sensors has its uniqueness for measurement like Taguchi gas sensors (TGS 2620, TGS

2602) and MQ 138 gas sensor. TGS gas sensors have four pins and for MQ is six pins.

Both of them with 4 pins can be used for the connection in circuit. In addition, National

Instruments Multisim software has built the signal conditioning circuit. NI Multisim is an

electronic schematic capture and simulation program which is part of a set of circuit

design programs, along with NI Ultiboard. From the built circuit, From the constructed

circuit, the values of load opposition, RL have been distinguished by fluctuating the

estimations of sensor resistance, Rs so as to get the best possible estimation of yield

voltage, Vout.

The table 4.1 has exposed that the selected R L values for those three gas sensors in

Wheatstone bridge circuit.

Table 4.1: The values of Vout based on the selected RL

R1 & R 2 RL Rs Vout
(Ω) (Ω) (Ω) (volts)

100k 2.429
MQ 138 1k 47k 200k 2.464
300k 2.476
100k 2.483

TGS 2602 1k 0.45k 10k 2.333

1k 0.9483
TGS 2620 1k 0.45k 5k 2.087

The table above has indicated the suitable value for load resistance, RL which are

47kΩ for MQ 138, 0.45kΩ for both TGS gas sensors. Then, all the sensor resistance, Rs

66
values are tested according to their own range in standard condition. The range of the Rs

values have been shown in Chapter 3 before.

As our circuit development is still in progress, so we could not access any data set.

So, my supervisor has given me a dataset from the internet related to breast cancer

(Wisconsin Breast Cancer Database, 1991) and told me code a program so that I can

attach that dataset to it. I have used the Pycharm Communtiy open Source Software to

code the program using python language. This has been a good practice for me to prepare

for FYP2.

Furthermore, the Gantt chart for FYP1 is shown in Table 4.2. The project briefing

and meeting supervisor have been continued from week 2 to 13. The report writing has

begun on week 8.

4.2 Future Plan for FYP2

We can see from table 4.3, it explains the reason gant chart for semester 2,

2018/2019. The plan for prototype or device is set to be on week 5 and structure of

machine learning programming by means of SVM algorithm will be made on week 9.

After that gathering data and sample for testing are done on week 11. To identify the

presence of lard, some pattern recognition must be perform by samples(pork, beef and

chicken). For finalization of conclusion, discussion will be held based on collected data

and analysis.

67
 Table 4.2: FYP1 Gantt Chart

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 11 1 13 1 15
Week 0 2 4
Task
FYP Briefing and
Topic Selection

Project Briefing
and Meeting with
Supervisor
Literature Review

Problem
Statement and
Objectives
Gas Selection and
Circuit
Construction
Planning
Report Writing

68
 Report
Submission
Final Presentation

Table 4.3: FYP2 Gantt Chart

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 11 12 13 1 15
Week 0 4
Task
Review of FYP1

Further Research
for Gas Sensor

Purchasing
Equipment
Build Device
Construct
Machine
Learning
Programming
Samples Testing
and Data
Collection
Report Writing

Report
Submission
Final Presentation

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

69
 In this paper, we have proposed an electronic device and its method to analyze the

odor of lard in different types of food products. The objective of this study which is to

build an electronic nose to detect the presence of lard will be continued to the FYP2.

According to the previous studies, the method and concept we have proposed, it

will be properly functional and if we are able to get proper results from the machine

language algorithm then we can train the device to detect lard with even low

concentration. Our main focus will be to monitor the device whether it gives various

voltage responses for different set of parameters and returns a stable voltage response

whenever it detects any lard and then it will display the result accordingly.

However, there might be some technical or mechanical problems we may face

during our project, but we will keep trying to make it better. For instance, a common

situation might appear which is the device might show improper readings of response

voltage, may be because of the supplied voltage is less than it is supposed to be.

Therefore, to overcome this type of problem, we have to make sure the rechargeable

battery used is fully charged and can provide enough power supply.

Data analysis for the signals we get from the sample will not be easy to categorize

as we will differentiate lard from chicken and beef fat. Proper machine learning coding

should be applied and sufficient number of datasets should be achieved in order to

increase the accuracy of the device. The more samples we gather, the more options we are

giving to the device. Our main goal is to sell this in the market so that the consumers can

be benefited. Any food that contains lard can easily be detected as the device is cheap,

70
portable and user friendly. This study also demonstrated that the method developed has

the potential for practical implementation of Halal authentication.

REFERENCES

Al-Rashood, Khalid & M. Abdel-Moety, Ezzat & Rauf, Abdul & Abou-Shaaban,

71
 Rafiq & Al-Khamis, Khalil. (1995). Triacylglycerols-Profiling by High

Performance Liquid Chromatography: A Tool for Detection of Pork Fat (Lard) in

Processed Foods. Journal of Liquid Chromatography & Related Technologies. 18.

2661-2673.

Albert, K.J. and Lewis, N.S. (2000), “Cross reactive chemical sensor arrays”, Chem.

Rev., Vol. 100, pp. 2595‐626.

Antihus Hernández Gómez, Jun Wang, Guixian Hu, Annia García, Pereira

(2008), Monitoring storage shelf life of tomato using electronic nose technique,

Volume 85, Issue 4, April 2008, Pages 625-631

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2007.06.039

Bottou, 1., Cortes, C., Denker, J. S., Drucker, H., Guyon, I., Jackel, L. D., Le

Cun, Y., Muller, U. A., Sackinger, E., Simard, P., Vapnik, V., Comparison of

Classifier Methods: a Case Study in Handwritten Digit Recognition, Proceedings

of the 12th International Conference on Pattern Recognition and Neural

Networks, Jerusalem (1994)

Brezmes, J., Llobet, E., Vilanova, X., Orts, J., Saiz., G., & Correig, X. (2001).

Correlation between electronic nose signals and fruit quality indicators on shelf-

life measurements with pinklady apples. Sensors and Actuators. B, Chemical,

80(1), 41-50. doi:10.1016/S0925-4005(01)00867-X

Buttner, W. J., Findlay, M., Vickers, W., Davis, W. M., Cespedes, E.R., Cooper, S.

and Adams, J. W. In situ detection of trinitrotoluene and other nitrated explosives

in soils. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1997, 341, 63-71

Farag, R.S., Abo-raya, S.H., Ahmed, F.A., Hewedi, F.M. and Khalifa, H.H. (1983).

72
 Fractional crystallization and gas chromatographic analysis of fatty acids as a

means of detecting butterfat adulteration. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 60: 1665 − 1669

Figaro Engineering Inc. (2005). General Information for TGS Sensors. Japan: Figaro

Group.

Figaro Engineering Inc. (2005). Technical Information for TGS 2620. Japan: Figaro

Group.

Figaro Engineering Inc. (2005). Technical Information for TGS 2602. Japan: Figaro

Group.

Gardner, J.W. and Bartlett, P.N. (1994) A Brief History of Electronic Noses. Sensors

& Actuators B Chemical, 18-19, 210-211.

https://doi.org/10.1016/0925-4005(94)87085-3

Gardner, J.W., & Bartlett, P.N (1998). Electronic Noses: principles and applications.

Oxford science.

Harsányi, G. (2000), “Polymer films in sensor applications: a review of present uses

and future possibilities”, Sensor Review, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 98‐105.

https://www.engadget.com/2009/05/02/nasas-new-e-nose-can-detect-scent-of-

cancerous-brain-cells/

https://www.naturalpedia.com/lard-sources-health-risks.html

James, D., Scott, S.M. and O’Hare, W.T. (2005) ‘Chemical sensors for electronic

nose systems’, Microchim Acta 2006, Vol. 156, p.183-207.

John C. Leffingwell, www.leffingwell.com /olfaction.htm

K. Arshak, E. Moore, G.M. Lyons, J. Harris, S. Clifford, (2004) "A review of gas

73
 sensors employed in electronic nose applications", Sensor Review, Vol. 24 Issue:

2, https://doi.org/10.1108/02602280410525977

Khlebarov, Z.P., Stoyanova, A.I. and Topalova, D.I. (1992), “Surface acoustic wave

gas sensors”, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 33‐40.

Kumar, S., & Ashutosh, G. (2015). Peltier module for refrigeration and heating using

embedded system, (March).

Lambelet, P & C. Ganguli, N. (1983). Detection of goat body fat in ghee by

differential scanning calorimetry. Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society.

60. 1005-1008. 10.1007/BF02660216.

Leffingwell, J.C. (2001). Olfaction: a review. Leffingwell & Associates. Retrieved from

www.leffingwell.com /olfaction.htm

López, P. (2017). Electronic nose prototype for explosive detection, (October).

Magan Naresh, Turner & Anthony. (2004). Electronic Noses and Disease Diagnostics

Nature reviews. Microbiology. 2. 161-6. 10.1038/nrmicro823.

Marikkar, Nazrim & Lai, Oi Ming & Mohd Ghazali, Hasanah & Che Man, Y.B. (2002).

Compositional and thermal analysis of RBD palm oil adulterated with lipase-

catalyzed interesterified lard. Food Chemistry. 76. 249-258.

Nagle, H.T., Gutierrez-Osuna, R., Schiffman, S.S. (1998). The how and why of

electronic noses.

Neaves, P.I. & Hatfield, J.V.. (1994). A signal processing ASIC for an electronic nose.

8/1-8/5.

O. L. Mangasarian and W. H. Wolberg: "Cancer diagnosis via linear programming"

, SIAM News, Volume 23, Number 5, September 1990, pp 1 & 18.

74
P. Whittaker, M. M. Mossoba, S. Al-Khaldi, F. S. Fry, V. C. Dunkel, B. D. Tall, M. P.

Yurawecz, J. Microbiol. Methods 2003, 55, 709.

Pearce, T.C., Schiffman, S.S., Nagle, H.T. and Gardner, J.W. (2003),

Handbook of Machine Olfaction, Wiley‐VCH, Weinheim.

Persaud, K.C. and Dodd, G. (1982) Analysis of Discrimination Mecha-nisms in the

Mammalian Olfactory System Using a Model Nose. Nature, 299, 352-355.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/299352a0

Phan, H. and Auth, J., (1993) Measurements of chemical emissions using FTIR

spectroscopy, Am. Lab, News

P. Whittaker, M. M. Mossoba, S. Al-Khaldi, F. S. Fry, V. C. Dunkel, B. D. Tall, M. P.

Yurawecz, J. Microbiol. Methods 2003, 55, 709.

Russell, R.A. (1999). Odour detection by mobile robots.

Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. Retrieved from

http://books.google.com.my/books?

id=O2FTjO9X2xQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Odour+detection+by+mobile+rob

ots#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Saeed, Talat & G. Ali, Sadika & A. Abdul Rahman, Hani & N. Sawaya, Wajih. (1989).

Detection of pork and lard as adultrants in processed meat: Liquid

chromatographic analysis of triglycerides. Journal of AOAC International. 72.

921-925.

Schaller, E., Bosset, J. O., Escher, F. (1998). Electronic nose and their application to

food.

Lebensm.-Wiss. u.-Technol., 31, 305-316.

75
Seiyama, T., Kato, A., Fujiishi, K. and Nagatani, M. (1962) A New Detector for Gaseous

Components Using Semiconductive Thin Films. Analytical Chemistry, 34, 1502-

1503. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac60191a001

Shurmer, H.V. and Gardner, J.W. (1992), “Odour discrimination with an electronic

nose”, Sensors and Actuators B, Vol. 8, pp. 1‐11.

Silverstein R.M, Bassler G.C and Morrill T.C, Spectrometric Identification of Organic

Compounds. (John Wiley, New York, 1991, pp.109-130)

Steuer B, Schulz H, Lager E. 2001. Classification and analysis of citrus oils by

NIR spectroscopy. Food Chem.72:113–17

Susan S. Schiffman; Livestock odors: implications for human health and well-being

Journal of Animal Science, Volume 76, Issue 5, 1 May 1998, Pages 1343–1355,

https://doi.org/10.2527/1998.7651343x

Vernat-Rossi V et al. 1996 Sensors and Actuators B 37 pp. 43-48

76