Production of high-quality peptones relies on precise pH control. During production at one of Solabia’s facilities, a humid environment was severely affecting the reliability of pH measurement. An Intelligent Sensor Management (ISM) solution not only solved the problem, but also ensured precise measurements and dependable performance for our customer.
Large bioindustrial group
Solabia, based in Paris, design and manufacture compounds and active principles for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutrition industries, and peptones and protein hydrolysates for the bio-industry. The group has several manufacturing and research facilities abroad and in France, including a 6000 m2 site at Beauvais near Paris.
Peptones
At the Beauvais site, peptones are produced by enzymatic hydrolysis in 6,000 to 15,000 L reactors. The solution in the reactors is continuously stirred while being heated to temperatures reaching 95 to 100 °C before being cooled. During the process, which can last several hours, pH must be strictly controlled in order to ensure high product quality. However, the production team was not satisfied with the performance of their pH measuring system.
Challenging conditions
With their pH installation Solabia encountered problems when calibrating electrodes due to the great deal of condensation moisture produced during the hot-cold process. In addition, the humid conditions were testing for the cables and couplings.
Requirements
Solabia turned to METTLER TOLEDO for a solution. The main requirements posed by Solabia included combating the moisture problems and reducing the effects of information lost due to the extremely long cables (> 20 m) that were being used. METTLER TOLEDO installed a test system comprising the following:
Benefits of the equipment InPro3253i electrode
The METTLER TOLEDO InPro3253i is a low-maintenance, digital pH electrode with pressurized liquid electrolyte. It has been specifically designed to meet the requirements of applications in biotechnological processes in the pharmaceutical industry.
M400 transmitter
This is a single-channel, multi-parameter transmitter for measurement of pH/redox, pH ISFET, oxygen, dissolved CO2 or conductivity. ISM functionality provides real-time sensor status information for true predictive maintenance.
Digital signal
The high-impedance pH signal of analog systems is very sensitive to interference and moisture, and the longer the cable the greater the chance there is of data loss. In an ISM system a microchip in the head of the sensor converts the analog measurement signal to a digital one. As low-impedance digital signals are unaffected by moisture, and data loss from sensor to transmitter is exceptionally low, humidity and cable length are not a problem.
Highly satisfied customer
The test phase lasted three weeks, during which the InPro3253i and M400 were used on seven batches. Moisture problems were eliminated and cable lengths were extended to 50 m without any deterioration of the signal. Such has been Solabia’s satisfaction that they have since ordered six additional pH measuring systems for other applications.