Electronic nose reads aromas in up to 60 seconds and promises a safety margin of 98%
Amid a wave of cases of methanol poisoning due to researchers from the Information Technology Center at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) developed an electronic nose that can identify the presence of in alcoholic beverages. A single drop of the drink is enough for the equipment to recognize strange odors in relation to the original drink. “The electronic nose transforms aromas into data. This data feeds the artificial intelligence that learns to recognize the scent signature of each sample”, explains professor Leandro Almeida, from the Informatics Center.
Samples of drinks known to be genuine are presented so that the machine can be calibrated to learn to recognize them and then adulterated versions are presented. The equipment reads the aromas in up to 60 seconds. It detects not only the presence of methanol but also any other type of adulteration, such as drinks diluted with water. Researchers promise a 98% safety margin
Other uses
The technology was initially developed for the oil and gas sector, as Leandro explains: “In fact, this research began 10 years ago to evaluate the odorizer in natural gas.” Odorizer is the smell added to cooking gas to detect leaks. The electronic nose can also identify adulterations in food or even for use in hospitals to identify, by smell, the presence of microorganisms.
“You can talk about, for example, the quality of a the quality of fish, red meat, white meat, fish, fish”, explains Leandro. He remembers, for example, that the food industry has used it to check the quality of soybean oil for margarine production. The research group is also thinking about ways to enable the use of technology in the bars, restaurants and wine cellars sector. One of the possibilities is to make equipment available to the owners of establishments that resell the drink through totems accessible to customers. customers. Another idea is to produce portable equipment so that the company that manufactures the drink can verify, itself, whether the product offered in establishments is really genuine.
Leandro is also considering a product developed to be used by the consumer himself: “We already have the design of a pen for the end customer. So that they can check their drink or food themselves.” For now, the ethyl version of the electronic nose has only been tested in the laboratory. Before being commercialized, it also needs to be tested in a real environment. To make the technology accessible, it is estimated that an investment of around R$10 million would be necessary.
Rec’N’Play
The electronic nose was presented at Rec’n’Play 2025, the innovation and technology festival that started on Wednesday (15) and ends this Saturday, at Porto Digital, in .
*With information from AFP
