Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) combined with chemometrics for real-time beer analysis

The beer industry plays an important role in the economy since this is the third most consumed beverage worldwide. Efficient analytical methods must be developed to ensure the quality of the product. Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) can provide molecular-level information, while enabling fast analysis. REIMS requires minimal sample preparation and it is ideal for the analysis of homogeneous liquid samples, such as beers, within only five seconds. In this article, 32 different beers were analyzed by REIMS in positive and negative ionization modes using a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The positive and negative MS spectrum blocks were augmented for data fusion. A predictive model by partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to discriminate the samples (i) by their brands and (ii) by the beer type (Premium and Standard American lagers). The results showed that REIMS provided a rich fingerprint of beers, which was successfully used to discriminate the brands and types with 96.9% and 97.9% accuracy, respectively. We believe that this proof-of-concept has great potential to be applied on a larger scale for industrial purposes due to its high-throughput.

Automated summary

In this study, rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry was used to analyze 32 different beers, successfully discriminating brands and types with high accuracy. This provides an efficient analytical method for quality control in the beer industry.