Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Item

NIR and MIR Spectroscopy for the Detection of Adulteration of Smoking Products

Akhtar, Zeb
Rehman, I.U.
Delporte, Cedric
Adam, E
Citations
Altmetric:
Abstract

This study explores the application of Mid-Infrared (MIR) and Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy combined with various multivariate calibration techniques to detect the presence of cannabis in tobacco samples and tobacco in herbal smoking products. Both MIR and NIR spectra were recorded for self-prepared samples, followed by data exploration using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Clustering Analysis (HCA), and the calculation of binary classification models with Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) and Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA). PCA demonstrated a clear differentiation between tobacco samples containing and not containing cannabis. On the other hand, based on PCA, only NIR was able to distinguish herbal smoking products adulterated and not adulterated with tobacco. HCA further clarified these results by revealing distinct clusters within the data. Modelling results indicated that MIR and NIR spectroscopy, particularly when paired with preprocessing techniques like Standard Normal Variate (SNV) and autoscaling, demonstrated high classification accuracy in SIMCA and PLS-DA, achieving correct classification rates of 90% to 100% for external test sets. Comparison of MIR and NIR revealed that NIR spectroscopy resulted in slightly more accurate models for the screening of tobacco samples for cannabis and herbal smoking products for tobacco. The developed approach could be useful for the initial screening of tobacco samples for cannabis, e.g., in a night life setting by law enforcement, but also for inspectors visiting shops selling tobacco and/or herbal smoking products.

Description
Date
2025-10-16
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Chapter title
Publication type
Peer reviewed scientific article
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
(N)IR spectroscopy, adulteration, cannabis, herbal smoking products, multivariate calibration, tobacco
Citation
Topic(s)
Related project
PrintSmoke #1000021#
Embedded videos