Use of focussed beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) for monitoring changes in biomass concentration

Abstract

The potential of focussed beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) as a tool to monitor changes in biomass concentration was investigated in a number of biological systems. The measurement technique was applied to two morphologically dissimilar plant cell suspension cultures, Morinda citrifolia and Centaurea calcitrapa, to a filamentous bacteria, Streptomyces natalensis, to high density cultures of Escherichia coli and to a murine Sp2/0 hybridoma suspension cell line, 3-2.19. In all cases, the biomass concentration proved to be correlated with total FBRM counts. The nature of the correlation varied between systems and was influenced by the concentration, nature, size and morphology of the particle under investigation.

Influence of high mixing intensity on rheology, hydration, and microstructure of fresh state cement paste

“…After preparing the paste in the high shear mixer, a portion of the paste was transferred to the FBRM beaker. To minimize the effect of sedimentation on the data, the paste was agitated with the impeller, and the probe was inserted into the sample face to the direction of flow at a downwards angle [12]. Three different agitating speeds (150, 300, and rpm) were used to examine how the agitation speed affected fresh state microstructural behavior and agglomeration strength among the particles.…”

“…The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of high shear mixing on the rheological properties and fresh state microstructure of Portland cement pastes. The fresh state microstructure was assessed with a focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) [12][13][14] device. The results obtained are then discussed on the basis of hydration kinetics and a shear-based agglomeration model, and a mechanism is proposed to explain the effect of high shear mixing on the rheological behavior and microstructural development of the pastes.…”

In situ CHARACTERISATION OF PALM OLEIN CRYSTALLISATION BEHAVIOUR BY FOCUSED BEAM REFLECTANCE MEASUREMENT (FBRM)

“…The Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM) is a well-established method which has found extensive usage in online and in situ particle characterisation within the pharmaceutical and fine chemicals (Kougoulos et al, 2005;Nagy et al, 2008;Saleemi et al, 2012), food (Haddad Amamou et al, 2010;Arellano et al, 2012;Ndoye et al, 2013;Ndoye and Alvarez, 2015) and biotechnology industries (McDonald et al, 2001;Pearson et al, 2003;Jeffers et al, 2003;Whelan et al, 2012). This technique operates on the principle of laser backscattering wherein a laser beam scans in a circular path at a fixed speed through a probe immersed in the solution under study.…”

Demulsifying water-in-oil emulsions by ethyl cellulose demulsifiers studied using focused beam reflectance measurement

“…It should be noted however that the measured droplet size distribution does not depend on the magnitude of the difference in reflectance between the dispersed and continuous phases so long as the difference is sufficient to distinguish the two phases as in our systems. A large community of users have successfully applied FBRM technology for monitoring dynamic solid-liquid or gasliquid processes, such as particle flocculation (Thapa et al, 2009;Kirwan, 2009;Owen et al, 2007), ice and hydrate formation (Greaves et al, 2008), crystal growth under antisolvent addition or cooling (Hermanto et al, 2012;Li et al, 2013Li et al, , 2014Zhao et al, 2012), biomass concentration in a number of biological systems (Whelan et al, 2012), etc. FBRM has also been applied to liquidliquid emulsion systems (Dowding et al, 2001;Maass et al, 2011), and previous results already showed FBRM to be a very practical tool in studying emulsion stability (Cobbledick et al, 2014).…”