Hupp Research Focus 1

Research Focus 1: Using Chemometric Methods to Understand and Develop a Chemical Fingerprint for Complex Matrices

Our current interest in this area involves the chemical fingerprinting of biodiesel fuels created from various feedstocks, such as soybean and canola oils, waste grease, and animal tallow. We use gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS) to identify chemical components, specifically fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) in each biodiesel and to determine chemical differences in the fuels. In additon, we use chemometric methods, such as principal component analysis, to associate biodiesel samples based on chemical components. This work can be found in our recently published papers.

J.C. Goding, D.Y. Ragon, J.B. O’Connor, S.J. Boehm, A.M. Hupp, “Comparison of GC Stationary Phases for the Separation of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters in Biodiesel Fuels” Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 405 (2013) 6087-6094. (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-013-7042-7)

M.E. Flood**, J.C. Goding**, J.B. O’Connor**, D.Y. Ragon**, A.M. Hupp, “Analysis of Biodiesel Feedstock Using GCMS and Unsupervised Chemometric Methods” Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society. 91 (2014) 1443-1452. (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11746-014-2488-0)

E.J. Soares, G.R. Yalla**, J.B. O'Connor**, K.A. Walsh, A.M. Hupp, "Hotelling Trace Criterion as a Figure of Merit for the Optimization of Chromatogram Alignment" Journal of Chemometrics. Published Online (2015). (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cem.2696/abstract)