Automatic determination of orthophosphate, ammoniacal nitrogen and total carbohydrate in fermentation media

Abstract

The automatic simultaneous determination of orthophosphate, ammoniacal nitrogen and total carbohydrate in aqueous samples from fermentation processes is described. Optimum conditions were established that prevented interferences between methods and catered for samples of different pH values and carbohydrate concentrations.

The capacity of the AutoAnalyzer is twenty samples per hour, with a minimum of sample handling and pre-treatment. Relative standard deviations obtained were in the range 1·0 to 3·2 per cent., a significant improvement on manual procedures. A statistical comparison of results indicated that there was no bias between the automatic and manual procedures.