IN SITU PROBE FOR REAL TIME VIABILITY AND BIOMASS DENSITY MONITORING DURING ETHANOL FERMENTATION AIMING PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENTS

• Grant number: 12/01126-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: June 04, 2012
• End date: March 03, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Valdinei Luís Belini
• Grantee: Valdinei Luís Belini
• Host Investigator: Hajo Suhr
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Hochschule Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Abstract

Traditionally the viability and yeasts density estimation have been carried out manually (hemacytometer). Although it is a relatively inexpensive and well known reagent-based off-line technique, it is error prone and has its inherent time-consuming issue in acquiring, preparing and analyzing the samples as main drawbacks. Under the hypothesis that information from consistent on-line and real time measurements may represent true yeasts fermentative conditions, the present research has the goals of proposing, implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of a probe based on the In Situ Microscopy (ISM) technique to monitor viability and yeast density directly from fermentation tanks during the entire fermentation process. The images obtained by this probe, neither outside sampling nor reagents, will be externally processed and analyzed by co-occurrence matrices and artificial neural network to automatically estimate the parameters of interest. It is intended, with this in situ technique, to be capable of detecting more accurately the optimal moment in which the alcoholic fermentation process has reached its maximum performance and must, therefore, be interrupted, aiming productivity improvements. The performance of the system will be demonstrated with statistically significant results from industrial fermentation operations. This proposal includes contextualization and justification of the problem under investigation, a synthesis of works related to the topic, predicted goals, expected results, plan of work with the execution schedule, materials and methodology, results analysis, and the justification for developing the research abroad.

Scientific publications

(4)

(The scientific publications listed on this page originate from the Web of Science or SciELO databases. Their authors have cited FAPESP grant or fellowship project numbers awarded to Principal Investigators or Fellowship Recipients, whether or not they are among the authors. This information is collected automatically and retrieved directly from those bibliometric databases.)

BELINI, V. L.; CAURIN, G. A. P.; WIEDEMANN, P.; SUHR, H.. YEAST FERMENTATION OF SUGARCANE FOR ETHANOL PRODUCTION: CAN IT BE MONITORED BY USING IN SITU MICROSCOPY?. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, v. 34, n. 4, p. 949-959, OCT-DEC 2017. (12/01126-5)

BELINI, V. L.; CAURIN, G. A. P.; WIEDEMANN, P.; SUHR, H.. YEAST FERMENTATION OF SUGARCANE FOR ETHANOL PRODUCTION: CAN IT BE MONITORED BY USING IN SITU MICROSCOPY?. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, v. 34, n. 4, p. 11-pg., 2017-10-01. (12/01126-5)

V. L. BELINI; G. A. P. CAURIN; P. WIEDEMANN; H. SUHR. Yeast fermentation of sugarcane for ethanol production: Can it be monitored by using in situ microscopy?. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, v. 34, n. 4, p. 949-959, 2017-10-00. (12/01126-5)

BELINI, VALDINEI LUIS; WIEDEMANN, PHILIPP; SUHR, HAJO. In situ microscopy: A perspective for industrial bioethanol production monitoring. Journal of Microbiological Methods, v. 93, n. 3, p. 224-232, JUN 2013. (12/01126-5)