Abstract

During the process of converting the organic matter into methane, many volatile fatty acids (VFAs) are produced during acidogenesis and acetogenesis phases of the process. The main VFAs of interest are acetic acid, butyric acid and propionic acid. Although the production of these VFAs are essential for the production of methane, they also play an inhibitory role for many of the organisms involved in the production of biogas. As a consequence, the levels of VFAs produced in an anaerobic digester must be monitored. Current methodologies for VFA monitoring are either unspecific, or costly. Therefore, the development of a sensor method that is specific to the different VFAs, while maintaining a low cost, will facilitate the lowering of biogas production, as well as avoiding the costly biological collapse of the whole biogas production process. Here, an array of coloured dyes (colourimetric array) has been assessed for their ability to detect low concentrations of VFAs within the digestate during biogas production. This methodology lays the foundation for the development of a sensor system for use in biogas plants and could also be expanded to detect many other parameters within the biogas production process.•Easy to establish.•Low user input.•Accurate measurement.

Highlights

  • Chemical sensors appear to be ideally suited for bioprocess monitoring compared to more complex on-line analysis techniques

  • Available sensor technologies for on-line monitoring of chemical variables include electrochemical, electronic, and optical technologies [1]; their use in bioreactors may be severely challenged by limited selectivity, repeatability, robustness, and stability [2]

  • There can frequently be a trade-off between sensitivity and robustness when developing new sensor technologies

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Summary

Introduction

The goal is to detect the colours of the dye spots while minimizing surface details. The image gain more tonal information per pixel, achieving a higher dimensionality for the colourimetric sensor array. DIP with regards to colourimetric sensor arrays is to calculate the colour difference between two images to produce a difference map.

Results
Conclusion

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