Study on GC-MS Analysis for Detection of Flammable Liquids in Fire Debris

This study analyzed flammable liquids that may be used in arson incidents, specifically four types of alcohols (methanol, ethanol, propanol, and isopropanol) defined in Appendix Table 1 of the Enforcement Decree of the Hazardous Materials Safety Management Act as saturated monohydric alcohols containing one to three carbon atoms. In addition, whiskey (with an ethanol content of 60%), which may be used in arson, commonly encountered residential materials such as plywood, carpet, and vinyl flooring, and those materials burned with whiskey were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that methanol, ethanol, propanol and isopropanol were detected at 7.39, 8.15, 10.33, and 8.05 min, respectively. Furthermore, GC-MS analysis of whiskey, burned whiskey, plywood, carpet, vinyl flooring, and materials burned with whiskey revealed ethanol peaks at the following retention times: 6.36 min for whiskey, 6.34 min for burned liquor, 6.36 min for plywood, 6.36 min for carpet, 6.33 min for vinyl flooring, 6.35 min for plywood burned with whiskey, 6.34 min for carpet burned with whiskey, and 6.34 min for vinyl flooring burned with whiskey. These findings are intended to serve as fundamental data for determining the potential use of alcohol and alcoholic beverages in fire investigations.