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Customized design of electronic noses placed on top of air-lift bioreactors for in situ monitoring the off-gas patterns

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Abstract

A specially designed electronic nose was coupled to an air-lift bioreactor in order to perform on-line monitoring of released vapors. The sensor array was placed at the top of the bioreactor sensing the headspace in equilibrium with the evolving liquor at any time without the need of aspiration and pumping of gases into a separated sensor chamber. The device was applied to follow the off-gas of a bioreactor with Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans grown on beds of elemental sulfur under aerobic conditions. Evolution was monitored by acid titration, pH and optical density measurements. The electronic nose was capable to differentiate each day of reactor evolution since inoculation within periods marked off culture medium replacements using multivariate data analysis. Excellent discrimination was obtained indicating the potentiality for on-line monitoring in non-perturbed bioreactors. The prospects for electronic nose/bioreactor merging are valuable for whatever the bacterial strain or consortium used in terms of scent markers to monitor biochemical processes.

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Acknowledgments

PER is a postdoctoral fellowship of the National Agency for Promotion of Science and Technology (ANPCYT, Argentina). DLB and RMN are researchers at the National Council of Research and Technology (CONICET, Argentina). Financial support was received from the University of Buenos Aires (UBACyT 2008-2010, project X157), ANPCYT (PICT 2006-00568) and CONICET (PIP 6382 and 01210). The authors thank to the Center of Documental Production (CePro, School of Sciences, University of Buenos Aires) for the presented picture (Fig. 1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LAMS, Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Analítica y Química Física. Instituto de Química Física de los Materiales, Medio Ambiente y Energía (INQUIMAE), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II. INQUIMAE, C1428EGA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Pablo E. Rosi, Silvia A. Miscoria, Delia L. Bernik & R. Martín Negri

  2. Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia, San Juan Bosco, Argentina

    Silvia A. Miscoria

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  1. Pablo E. Rosi
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  2. Silvia A. Miscoria
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  3. Delia L. Bernik
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  4. R. Martín Negri
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Correspondence to R. Martín Negri.

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Rosi, P.E., Miscoria, S.A., Bernik, D.L. et al. Customized design of electronic noses placed on top of air-lift bioreactors for in situ monitoring the off-gas patterns. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 35, 835–842 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-011-0667-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-011-0667-z

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