Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography

A comprehensive understanding of the compositions and physicochemical properties of coal-based liquids is conducive to the rapid development of multipurpose, high-performance, and high-value functional chemicals. However, because of their complex compositions, coal-based liquids generate two-dimensi...

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Main Authors: Huan-Huan Fan, Xiang-Ling Wang, Jie Feng, Wen-Ying Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Separations
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2297-8739/12/2/22
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author Huan-Huan Fan
Xiang-Ling Wang
Jie Feng
Wen-Ying Li
author_facet Huan-Huan Fan
Xiang-Ling Wang
Jie Feng
Wen-Ying Li
author_sort Huan-Huan Fan
collection DOAJ
description A comprehensive understanding of the compositions and physicochemical properties of coal-based liquids is conducive to the rapid development of multipurpose, high-performance, and high-value functional chemicals. However, because of their complex compositions, coal-based liquids generate two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) chromatograms that are very complex and very time consuming to analyze. Therefore, the development of a method for accurately and rapidly analyzing chromatograms is crucial for understanding the chemical compositions and structures of coal-based liquids, such as direct coal liquefaction (DCL) oils and coal tar. In this study, DCL oils were distilled and qualitatively analyzed using GC × GC chromatograms. A deep-learning (DL) model was used to identify spectral features in GC × GC chromatograms and predominantly categorize the corresponding DCL oils as aliphatic alkanes, cycloalkanes, mono-, bi-, tri-, and tetracyclic aromatics. Regional labels associated with areas in the GC × GC chromatograms were fed into the mask-region-based convolutional neural network’s (Mask R-CNN’s) algorithm. The Mask R-CNN accurately and rapidly segmented the GC × GC chromatograms into regions representing different compounds, thereby automatically qualitatively classifying the compounds according to their spots in the chromatograms. Results show that the Mask R-CNN model’s accuracy, precision, recall, F1 value, and Intersection over Union (IoU) value were 93.71%, 96.99%, 96.27%, 0.95, and 0.93, respectively. DL is effective for visually comparing GC × GC chromatograms to analyze the compositions of chemical mixtures, accelerating GC × GC chromatogram interpretation and compound characterization and facilitating comparisons of the chemical compositions of multiple coal-based liquids produced in the coal and petroleum industry. Applying DL to analyze chromatograms improves analysis efficiency and provides a new method for analyzing GC × GC chromatograms, which is important for fast and accurate analysis.
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spelling doaj-art-d8432d6699d54397b840ec4690a154012025-08-20T03:12:04ZengMDPI AGSeparations2297-87392025-01-011222210.3390/separations12020022Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas ChromatographyHuan-Huan Fan0Xiang-Ling Wang1Jie Feng2Wen-Ying Li3State Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Clean and Efficient Coal Utilization, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, ChinaA comprehensive understanding of the compositions and physicochemical properties of coal-based liquids is conducive to the rapid development of multipurpose, high-performance, and high-value functional chemicals. However, because of their complex compositions, coal-based liquids generate two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) chromatograms that are very complex and very time consuming to analyze. Therefore, the development of a method for accurately and rapidly analyzing chromatograms is crucial for understanding the chemical compositions and structures of coal-based liquids, such as direct coal liquefaction (DCL) oils and coal tar. In this study, DCL oils were distilled and qualitatively analyzed using GC × GC chromatograms. A deep-learning (DL) model was used to identify spectral features in GC × GC chromatograms and predominantly categorize the corresponding DCL oils as aliphatic alkanes, cycloalkanes, mono-, bi-, tri-, and tetracyclic aromatics. Regional labels associated with areas in the GC × GC chromatograms were fed into the mask-region-based convolutional neural network’s (Mask R-CNN’s) algorithm. The Mask R-CNN accurately and rapidly segmented the GC × GC chromatograms into regions representing different compounds, thereby automatically qualitatively classifying the compounds according to their spots in the chromatograms. Results show that the Mask R-CNN model’s accuracy, precision, recall, F1 value, and Intersection over Union (IoU) value were 93.71%, 96.99%, 96.27%, 0.95, and 0.93, respectively. DL is effective for visually comparing GC × GC chromatograms to analyze the compositions of chemical mixtures, accelerating GC × GC chromatogram interpretation and compound characterization and facilitating comparisons of the chemical compositions of multiple coal-based liquids produced in the coal and petroleum industry. Applying DL to analyze chromatograms improves analysis efficiency and provides a new method for analyzing GC × GC chromatograms, which is important for fast and accurate analysis.https://www.mdpi.com/2297-8739/12/2/22direct coal liquefaction oilschemical compositiondeep learningpattern recognition
spellingShingle Huan-Huan Fan
Xiang-Ling Wang
Jie Feng
Wen-Ying Li
Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography
Separations
direct coal liquefaction oils
chemical composition
deep learning
pattern recognition
title Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography
title_full Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography
title_fullStr Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography
title_full_unstemmed Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography
title_short Comprehensive Quantitative Analysis of Coal-Based Liquids by Mask R-CNN-Assisted Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography
title_sort comprehensive quantitative analysis of coal based liquids by mask r cnn assisted two dimensional gas chromatography
topic direct coal liquefaction oils
chemical composition
deep learning
pattern recognition
url https://www.mdpi.com/2297-8739/12/2/22
work_keys_str_mv AT huanhuanfan comprehensivequantitativeanalysisofcoalbasedliquidsbymaskrcnnassistedtwodimensionalgaschromatography
AT xianglingwang comprehensivequantitativeanalysisofcoalbasedliquidsbymaskrcnnassistedtwodimensionalgaschromatography
AT jiefeng comprehensivequantitativeanalysisofcoalbasedliquidsbymaskrcnnassistedtwodimensionalgaschromatography
AT wenyingli comprehensivequantitativeanalysisofcoalbasedliquidsbymaskrcnnassistedtwodimensionalgaschromatography