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Detection of Hydraulic Oil-Polluted Soil Using a Low-Cost Electronic Nose with Sample Heating
Piotr Borowik1, Przemysław Pluta2, Rafał Tarakowski3
1Institute of Theory of Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Information Systems, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, ul. Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warszawa, Poland.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 27, 2026
Summary
An inexpensive electronic nose effectively monitors soil contamination from hydraulic oil spills in forestry. The sensor heater temperature modulation mode achieved 97% accuracy in detecting pollution, offering a robust environmental assessment tool.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Sensor Technology
Background:
- Soil contamination from petroleum products, particularly hydraulic oil in forestry, poses significant environmental and health risks.
- Effective monitoring is crucial for mitigating the impact of spills from harvesting equipment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a custom-built, low-cost electronic nose for discriminating between pristine and petroleum-contaminated soil.
- To assess the performance of different sensor operation modes and classification algorithms for soil pollution detection.
Main Methods:
- An electronic nose with a Figaro TGS gas sensor array was developed and tested.
- Two sensor operation modes were employed: response to odor and sensor heater temperature modulation.
- Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) were used for data classification.
Main Results:
- The sensor heater temperature modulation mode significantly outperformed room temperature measurements, achieving 97% classification accuracy.
- The system successfully identified biodegradable oil contamination but faced challenges with standard mineral oil.
- The TGS 2602 sensor demonstrated the highest effectiveness among those tested.
Conclusions:
- Portable electronic noses offer a statistically robust and cost-effective solution for assessing soil pollution severity.
- The developed electronic nose system shows promise for real-time environmental monitoring of petroleum contamination in forestry settings.
