An Investigation of Fuel Qualification by Using Quartz Sensors

identified as carcinogenic and mutagenic. The electronic nose technology based device is designed to
detect and identify among complex vapor mixtures using a sensor array. The sensor array is
composed of a number of non-specific sensors with slightly different or overlapping response to each
other. An array of quartz crystal sensors modified by chemical materials was implemented for vapor
detection. In this study, the vapor sensor array was employed to qualify the fuels. This was done to
distinguish some common fuels and also to determine the rate of fuel adulteration. All the
measurements were conducted at room temperature. The sensor response consumed only up to one
minute for a measurement cycle. After statistical data analysis including Principal Component
Analysis and Neural Network methods, it was possible to conclude that the sensor array is able to
distinguish the fuel vapors with high reproducibility and to determine the rate of fuel adulteration with
linear correlation. The results prove that this vapor sensor array can be used as a screening test for
fuel quality. Instead of nitrogen for reference gas, the further study should be addressed to a low cost
and portable dry air.