Article
Multiplex gas sampler for monitoring respirometry in column-type bioreactors used in solid-state fermentation
Fecha
2012Autor
Pliego-Sandoval, J.
Amaya-Delgado, L.
Mateos-Diaz, J.C.
Rodriguez, J.
Cordova, J.
Alba, A.
Jaubert, S.
Herrera-Lopez, E.J.
Institución
Resumen
A multiplex gas sampler for monitoring CO2 and O2 for column-type bioreactors used in solid-state fermentation was designed. The sampler mechanically couples up to 24 bioreactors to a central set of CO2 and O2 sensors. The user can set fermentation time, the number of bioreactors to be sampled by the sampling port, the sampling rate and the delay time between sampling (to guarantee the complete replacement of a gas sample). The user has the possibility to enable or disable sampling from bioreactorports. Due to its small size and weight, the gas sampler is portable. This device is also quite economical. This gas sampler was validated using two solid-state fermentation experiments. First, the CO2 and O2 measurements were confirmed to be highly reproducible. No significant differences were found for the fermentations of 19 experimental units (bioreactors) simultaneously run with Rhizopus sp. cultured at the same conditions. Second, the versatility of the gas sampler, operating simultaneously with several microorganisms cultured at different conditions, was demonstrated through the simultaneous monitoring of A. awamori and Rhizopus sp. solid-state fermentations, cultured at different temperatures and pH. By using the multiplex gas sampler, the above study was done in only one set of experiments rather than in five sets of experiments that would have been required by using other sampler, representing a great time saving. © 2012 American Scientific Publishers.