Determination of Ethanol in Alcoholic Beverages Using Conventional Method and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy

Document Type : Original Research Articles

Authors
mustofa ahda 1
Budi Setiawan 2
1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
2 Ahmad Dahlan Halal Center, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
10.22059/jsciences.2026.397777.1007935
Abstract
The objective of this study was to develop a straightforward and rapid analytical procedure for ethanol quantification. Specifically, a GC-MS method was compared to a conventional approach for detecting ethanol levels in alcoholic beverages. In the GC-MS system, the oven temperature rate and the mobile phase total flow rate were set at 10 °C/min and 104 mL/min, respectively. This method successfully detected ethanol in less than 2 minutes, demonstrating a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.994 within a 0.1–5% standard calibration range. It exhibited high selectivity, accuracy (100.8%), and precision (RSD of 3.01–3.25%). In contrast, the conventional method required 24 hours of analysis time, with a narrow standard curve range of 0–0.05%. However, this investigation demonstrated that GC-MS is superior to the traditional technique, which was found to be time-consuming, non-specific, inaccurate, and imprecise. Therefore, GC-MS is highly recommended for confirmatory testing of ethanol in alcoholic beverages, whereas the conventional method should only be utilized for preliminary screening.
Keywords
conventional method
chromatography technique
ethanol analysis
confirmatory test
preliminary test
Subjects
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Journal of Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran
Volume 36, Issue 2
Spring 2025
Pages 105-110