SENSOR ARRAY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS (VOCS)

• Grant number: 26/00850-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2026
• End date: March 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Sebastiao Gomes dos Santos Filho
• Grantee: Arthur Marques Lourenço
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) represent a class of atmospheric pollutants of significant environmental and public health concern. Many VOCs exhibit acute or chronic toxicity, including species recognized as carcinogenic, and they also contribute to the formation of tropospheric ozone and secondary particulate matter. Monitoring of these compounds is traditionally performed using reference techniques such as Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), which provide high selectivity and sensitivity, reaching detection levels in the parts-per-billion (ppb) range. However, the high cost and requirement for specialized laboratory infrastructure restrict their applicability in distributed monitoring contexts.This project proposes the development of a low-cost multisensor system based on resistive sensors from the MQ family and the environmental sensor BME680, integrated with machine learning techniques implemented on the Orange Data Mining 3.36 platform. The objective is to assess the qualitative classification capability of individual VOCs and mixtures of up to four gases, as well as to explore the feasibility of quantification within the constraints imposed by the limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ). The central challenge lies in determining whether, through pre-concentration strategies and statistical modeling, satisfactory results in classification and regression can be achieved even when employing low-selectivity sensors, in comparison with higher-cost commercial alternatives. (AU)