THE DETERMINATION OF ORGANIC ACIDS IN FERMENTATION BROTHS BY AN ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSOR

THE PRODUCTION OF COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT CHEMICAL FEEDSTOCKSBY MICROBIAL FERMENTATION IS HINDERED BY THE INABILITY TO MONITOR THE ONSET OF PRODUCT AND/OR BYPRODUCT FORMATION. SINCE MANY MICROORGANISMS UTILIZING GLUCOSE AS A SUBSTRATE GENERATE CARBOXYLIC ACIDS, AN "IN SITU" ORGANIC ACID SENSOR WOULD BE A VALUABLE ADDITION TO ANY BIOREACTOR DESIGN. THROUGH THE USE OF A MULTIPHASE POTENTIODYNAMIC WAVEFORM AND A CHEMICALLY MODIFIED ELECTRODE SURFACE, ACETIC, LACTIC,AND PYRUVIC ACIDS WILL BE DETECTED AND QUANTIFIED IN A BULK FERMENTATION BROTH. THESE DATA WILL THEN BE CORRELATED WITHGAS-LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY ANALYSIS RUN ON THE SAME FERMENTATION BROTH.