We have released a new application note for the Alcoholic Beverage Fusel Alcohol Testing with Static Headspace.
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Abstract
A static headspace method was developed using Teledyne Tekmar automated headspace vial samplers to meet the method requirements of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the US Department of the Treasury (TTB) method SSD: TM:2001 for testing fusel alcohols in alcoholic beverages.
Introduction
Fusel alcohols are a common byproduct of the fermentation process, but abnormal quantities or types can indicate alcoholic beverage adulteration. Method SSD: TM:2001 is a direct injection method for testing these alcohols. The method states that NonBeverage Alcohol (NBA) products, not miscible with water, cannot be analyzed by this method. Additionally, NBA products and distilled spirits with greater than 10% solids must be diluted prior to analysis.
The direct injection technique transfers all compounds in the sample into the inlet and could potentially contaminate the inlet liner, requiring frequent changes. To compensate for this contamination, the quality control section of SSD: TM:200 indicates that when the correlation coefficient drops below 0.99, the liner should be changed as a corrective action. In addition to liner contamination, thermally labile compounds such as sugars can break down, leading to interfering peaks that hinder analysis.
A Teledyne Tekmar static headspace vial sampler will be used to develop a static headspace method to test for fusel oil following the TTB method. By using static headspace, only the volatile component will be transferred to the GC, leaving the nonvolatile components that can foul an injection liner in the headspace vial.