METHODS OF MEASURING PROCESS

VARIABLES AND THEIR CONTROL

•
Temperature
The temperature in a vessel or pipe is one of the most important parameters to
monitor and control in any process.

• Measurement

• It is measured by
– mercury-in-glass thermometers,
– bimetallic thermometers,
– pressure bulb thermometers,
– thermocouples,
– metal-resistance thermometers or thermistors.

• Metal-resistance thermometers and thermistors are used in most fermentation

applications.

• Control
– The use of water jackets or pipe coils within a fermenter as a means of temperature
control.
– and a cooling water supply; these are on or off depending on the need for heating or
cooling.
– In large fermenters, where heating during the fermentation is not normally required, a
regulatory valve at the cooling-water inlet may be sufficient to control the temperature.
– Low agitation speeds are often essential in animal cell culture vessels to minimize shear
damage.
 Flow of fluids
• Flow measurement and control of both gases and liquids is
important in process management .

• Measurement
– for measuring gas flow to a fermenter is by means of a variable area
meter.
– The most commonly used example is a rotameter
– Rotameters can also be used to measure liquid flow rates, provided
that abrasive particles or fibrous matter are not present.
– The use of oxygen and carbon dioxide gas analysers for effluent gas
analysis requires the provision of very accurate gas-flow measurement
if the analysers are to be used effectively.
• Control
– Control of gas flow is usually by needle valves.
The mass flow rate of the gas, Q, can be calculated from the specific heat
equation:

H = Q Cp(T2 – T1)

Q = H / Cp(T2 – T1)
Where,
H= heat transferred,
Q= mass flow rate of the gas,
Cp = specific heat of the gas,
T1= temperature of gas before heat is transferred to it,
T2 = temperature of gas after heat is transferred to it.

In batch and fed-batch culture fermenters, a cheaper alternative is to

measure flow rates indirectly by load cells.

Load cells also monitor the increases and decreases in weight of the various vessels
at regular time intervals.
 Pressure
• Measurement

– Pressure is one of the crucial measurements.

– Is most important for safety purpose.
– The measurement of pressure is also important in media sterilization.
– In a fermenter, pressure will influence the solubility of gases and
– Contribute to the maintenance of sterility when a positive pressure is present.
– One of the standard pressure measuring sensors is the Bourdon tube pressure gauge
– Diaphragm gauge can be used when a vessel or pipe is to be operated under aseptic
conditions.

• Control

• During normal operation a positive head pressure of 1.2 atmospheres (161 kN- 1)
absolute is maintained in a fermenter to assist in the maintenance of aseptic
conditions.
• The correct pressure in different components is
– maintained by regulatory valves or safety valves and
– controlled by associated pressure gauges.
FIG. 1. 'c' Bourdon tube pressure gauge (Liptak, 1969).
 FIG. 2. Nested diaphragm-type pressure sensor (Liptak, 1969).

Changes in pressure cause movements of the diaphragm capsule which are monitored by
a mechanically levered pointer.
 Foam sensing and control
• Foaming is a problem in most of the microbiological processes, due to a
component in the medium or some factor produced by the micro-
organism.

• The most common cause of foaming is due to proteins in the medium,

such as corn-steep liquor, Pharmamedia, meal, soybean meal, yeast
extract or meat extract (Schugerl, 1985).

• The foaming can cause removal of cells from the medium which will lead
to autolysis and the further release of microbial cell proteins will probably
increase the stability of the foam.

• It is common practice to add an antifoam to a fermenter when the culture

starts foaming above a certain predetermined level.
• Control by
– Addition of chemical antifoams which are surface active agents,
breaking the foam by reducing the surface tension at broth and
destabilizing protein films.

– A number of mechanical antifoam devices attached to the agitator

shaft above the surface of the broth such as-
• Discs foam breaker,
• propellers,
• brushes or hollow cones

– The foam is broken down when it is thrown against the walls of the
fermenter.
• A foam sensing and control unit is shown in Fig. 3.

• A probe is inserted through the top plate of the fermenter.

• Normally the probe is a stainless-steel rod, which is insulated

except at the tip, and set at a defined level above the broth
surface.

• When the foam rises and touches the probe tip, a current is
passed through the circuit of the probe, with the foam acting
as an electrolyte and the vessel acting as an earth.

• The current actuates a pump or valve and antifoam is released

into the fermenter for a few seconds which result into
breaking and reduction of foam formation.
FIG. Foam sensing and control unit.
 ANTIFOAMS
Foaming is a problem in most of the microbiological processes, due
to a component in the medium or some factor produced by the micro-
organism.
The most common cause of foaming is due to proteins in the
medium, such as corn-steep liquor, Pharmamedia, meal, soybean
meal, yeast extract or meat extract (Schugerl, 1985).
The foaming can cause removal of cells from the medium which
will lead to autolysis and the further release of microbial cell proteins
will probably increase the stability of the foam.
 Antifoams are surface active agents, reducing the surface
tension in the foams and destabilizing protein films by
– (a) hydrophobic bridges between two surfaces,
– (b) displacement of the absorbed protein, and
– (c) rapid spreading on the surface of the film (Van't Riet and Van
Sonsbeck, 1992).
The following compounds are used as antifoam and meet
most of these properties have been found to be most suitable
in different fermentation processes (Solomons, 1969;Ghildyal
et al., 1988):
1. Alcohols; stearyl and octyl decanol.

2. Esters.

3. Fatty acids and derivatives, particularly glycerides, which include

cottonseed oil, linseed oil, say-bean oil, olive oil, castor oil, sunflower
oil, rapeseed oil and cod liver oil.

4. Silicones.

5. Sulphonates.

6. Miscellaneous; Alkaterge C, oxazaline, poly-propylene glycol.

An ideal antifoam should have the following properties:
1.Should disperse readily and have fast action on an existing foam.

2. Should be active at low concentrations.

3. Should be long acting in preventing new foam formation.

4. Should not be metabolized by the microorganism.

5. Should be non-toxic to the micro-organism.

6. Should be non-toxic to humans and animals.

7. Should not cause any problems in the extraction and purification of the product.

8. Should not cause any handling hazards.

9. Should be cheap.

10. Should have no effect on oxygen transfer.

11. Should be heat sterilizable.

 Measurement and control of dissolved
oxygen
• Measurement
– In most aerobic fermentations it is essential to ensure that the dissolved oxygen
concentration does not fall below a specified minimal level.

– Monitored by sterilizable oxygen electrodes.

– These electrodes measure the partial pressure of the dissolved oxygen and not the
dissolved oxygen concentration.
– Therefore at equilibrium, the probe signal of an electrode will be determined by:

P(O2) = C(O2) x PT

where
• P(O2) is the partial pressure of dissolved oxygen sensed by the probe,

• C(O2) is the volume or mole fraction of oxygen in the gas phase,

• PT is the total pressure.

• The actual reading is normally expressed as percentage saturation with air at atmospheric
pressure,

• 100% dissolved oxygen means a partial pressure of approximately 160 mmHg.

 Agitator and Shaft Power
Measurement and Control

• A variety of sensors can be used to measure the power consumption of a

fermenter.

• On a large scale, a watt meter attached to the agitator motor will give a
fairly good indication of power uptake.

• Torsion dynamometers can be used in small-scale applications.

• Rate of stirring

– In all fermenters it is important to monitor the rate of rotation (in rpm)

of the stirrer shaft.

– Measured by the used of tachometer.

 Weight and Microbial biomass
• Measurement by load cell .

• A load cell offers a convenient method of determining the weight of a fermenter or

feed vessel.

• A load cell is essentially an elastic body, usually a solid or tubular steel cylinder.

• Changes of resistance with strain which are proportional to load are determined by
appropriate electrical apparatus.

• The change in weight in a known time interval can be used indirectly as a measure of
liquid flow rates.

• Load cells also used to monitor

– feed rates from medium reservoirs,
– acid and base utilization for pH control and
– the use of antifoam for foam control.
 pH measurement and control
• In batch culture the pH of an actively growing culture will not remain constant
for long time.

• Rapid changes in pH can often be reduced by

– the careful design of media, particularly in the choice of carbon and nitrogen sources,
and
– the incorporation of buffers or
– batch feeding.
• The pH may be further controlled by
– the addition of appropriate quantities of ammonia or sodium hydroxide if broth become
too acidic, or
– the addition of appropriate quantities of sulphuric acid if broth become too alkaline.

• pH measurement is now routinely carried out

– using a combined glass reference electrode that will

– withstand repeated sterilization at temperatures of 1210C and pressures of 138 kN m- 2.

– The electrodes may be silver/silver chloride with potassium chloride or special

formulations (e.g. Friscolyt by Ingold) as an electrolyte.

– Occasionally calomel/mercury electrodes are used.

• The measurement of dissolved carbon dioxide
is possible with an electrode, since a pH or
voltage change can be detected as the gas
goes into solution.

• Measured by electrode consisted of a

combined pH electrode with a bicarbonate
buffer (pH 5) surrounding the bulb and
ceramic plug, with the solution.
 Redox
• It is a measure of the oxidation-reduction potential
of a biological system and

• Can be determined as a voltage (mV), the value in

any system depending on the equilibrium of:
Reduced form  Oxidized form + electron (s)
(negative value) (positive value)

• The measuring electrode consists of gold, platinum

or iridium which is welded to a copper lead.