Continuous determination of volatile products in anaerobic fermenters by on-line capillary gas chromatography

Bio-ethanol and biogas produced during the anaerobic conversion of organic compounds has been a subject of great interest since the oil crisis of the 1970s. In ethanol fermentation and anaerobic treatment of wastewaters, end-product (ethanol) and intermediate-products (short-chain fatty acids, SCFA) cause inhibition that results in reduced process efficiency. Control of these constituents is of utmost importance for bioreactor optimization and process stability. Ethanol and SCFA can be detected with precision by capillary gas chromatography usually conducted in off-line measurements. In this work, an on-line monitoring and controlling system was developed and connected to the fermenter via an auto-sampling equipment, which could perform the feeding, filtration and dilution of the sample and final injection into the gas chromatograph through an automation-based programmed procedure. The sample was continuously pumped from the recycle stream of the bioreactor and treated using a microfiltration unit. The concentrate was returned to the reactor while the permeate was quantitatively mixed with an internal standard solution. The system comprised of a gas chromatograph with the flow cell and one-shot sampler and a PC with the appropriate software. The on-line measurement of ethanol and SCFA, directly from the liquid phase of an ethanol fermenter and a high-rate continuous mode anaerobic digester, was accomplished by gas chromatography. Also, this monitoring and controlling system was proved to be effective in the continuous fermentation of alcohol-free beer.