Electrochemical monitoring of citric acid production by Aspergillus niger

Abstract

Hybrid electronic tongue was developed for the monitoring of citric acid production by Aspergillus niger. The system based on various potentiometric/voltammetric sensors and appropriate chemometric techniques provided correct qualitative and quantitative classification of the samples collected during standard Aspergillus niger culture and culture infected with yeast. The performance of the proposed approach was compared with the monitoring of the fermentation process carried out using classical methods. The results obtained proved, that the designed hybrid electronic tongue was able to evaluate the progress and correctness of the fermentation process.

Keywords: Aspergillus niger; Citric acid production; Electrochemical sensors; Fermentation process; Hybrid electronic tongue; Process monitoring.