Determination of potassium sorbate and sorbic acid in agricultural products using THz time-domain spectroscopy**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61705061 and 61975053), Key Science and Technology Program of Henan Province of China (Grant Nos. 182102110204 and 192102110047), Key Scientific and Research Project of Educational Committee of Henan Province of China (Grant No. 19B510001), and

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of detecting potassium sorbate (PS) and sorbic acid (SA) in agricultural products using THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The absorption spectra of PS and SA were measured from 0.2 to 1.6 THz at room temperature. The main characteristic absorption peaks of PS and SA in polyethylene and powdered agricultural products with different weight ratios were detected and analyzed. Interval partial least squares (iPLS) combined with a particle swarm optimization and support vector classification (PSO-SVC) algorithm was proposed in this paper. iPLS was used for frequency optimization, and the PSO-SVC algorithm was used for spectrum analysis of the preservative content based on the optimal spectrum ranges. Optimized PSO-SVC models were obtained when the THz spectrum from the PS/SA mixture was divided into 11 or 12 subintervals. The optimal penalty parameter c and kernel parameter g were found to be 1.284 and 0.863 for PS (0.551–1.487 THz), 1.374 and 0.906 for SA (0.454–1.216 THz), respectively. The preliminary results indicate that THz-TDS can be an effective nondestructive analytical tool used for the quantitative detection of additives in agricultural products.