Rudnitskaya Alisa, Legin Andrey
Chemistry Department, St Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, 199034, St Petersburg, Russia.
J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 2008 May;35(5):443-451. doi: 10.1007/s10295-007-0298-1. Epub 2008 Jan 9.
Production of biofuel is based on the conversion by microorganisms of complex organic substrates into the methane or ethanol, which are consequently used as energy sources. Real time monitoring of the fermented media composition is of paramount for the effectiveness of the whole process. However, despite the fact that products worth billions of dollars are produced through fermentation processes annually, analytical instruments used for these processes' monitoring remain relatively primitive. Established laboratory techniques produce exhaustive information about media composition but analysis is often quite time-consuming, expensive, requires skilled personnel and hardly can be automated. Lack of on-line sensors for the fermentation monitoring is commonly stressed in the literature. One of the techniques particularly suitable for this purpose is chemical sensors. Such features as low prices, relatively simple instrumentation, minimal sample preparation and easy automation of measurements make chemical sensors an attractive tool for industrial process control. However, practical use of chemical sensors in complex media is often hindered by their insufficient selectivity. For example, only pH and oxygen probes are routinely used in bio-reactors. One of the emerging approaches permitting to overcome the selectivity problems is the use of systems instead of discrete sensors. Such systems for liquid and gas analysis were named electronic tongues and electronic noses correspondingly. They are capable to perform both quantitative analysis (components' concentrations) and classification or recognition of multicomponent media. This review presents recent achievements in the R&D and applications of electronic tongues and noses to the monitoring of biotechnological processes.
生物燃料的生产基于微生物将复杂有机底物转化为甲烷或乙醇，进而将其用作能源。实时监测发酵培养基的成分对于整个过程的有效性至关重要。然而，尽管每年通过发酵过程生产价值数十亿美元的产品，但用于这些过程监测的分析仪器仍然相对原始。既定的实验室技术能提供有关培养基成分的详尽信息，但分析通常相当耗时、昂贵，需要熟练人员，且几乎无法实现自动化。文献中普遍强调缺乏用于发酵监测的在线传感器。特别适合此目的的技术之一是化学传感器。诸如价格低廉、仪器相对简单、样品制备最少以及测量易于自动化等特点，使化学传感器成为工业过程控制的有吸引力的工具。然而，化学传感器在复杂介质中的实际应用常常因其选择性不足而受阻。例如，生物反应器中常规仅使用pH和氧气探头。一种新兴的克服选择性问题的方法是使用系统而非离散传感器。相应地，用于液体和气体分析的此类系统分别被称为电子舌和电子鼻。它们能够进行定量分析（成分浓度）以及对多组分介质进行分类或识别。本综述介绍了电子舌和电子鼻在生物技术过程监测的研发及应用方面的最新成果。
