A process control system is to be established for the Downstream processing unit in order to monitor and control each unit operations along the process pathway. The prototype automated inline biosensors which will be created and integrated with the green biorefinery by UCD. New biosensor system will present biorefinery operators inline measurements of essential product parameters (e.g. bulk sum parameter for total AAs, LA and other organic acids etc). The readings which will be performed in real-time (response times of 2 min, update frequency 30 min) will provide for quality analysis of each unit operation.
Monitoring and Control Unit: The biorefinery process requires a high level of monitoring and control to ensure that product quality is maximised. The lack of real-time M&C has always been a bottleneck for assessing fast feedstock quality or to control downstream processes. The Biosensors developed by UCD can already identify acetate, propionate, ethanol, d- and L-lactic acid at very low concentration. A bulk amino acid biosensor will be created and deployed in this project.
UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering specialises in: Food and feed Engineering, Environmental modelling, Biosensors and Bioenergy. The school is especially equipped to fill niche gaps where engineering, agriculture and the environment intersect. The School has extensive experience in leading both large Science Foundation Ireland and EU H2020 research projects. SFI Charles Parsons (€3m) and H2020 AgroCycle (€8m) (ongoing) being just two examples of projects where climate action featured prominently.
The School has an extensive state-of-the-art sensors lab, funded externally by SFI and the ERC, a UV-VIS spectrometry lab, a biosensors lab and a dedicated chemical analysis lab (GC, HPLC and NMR). These resources in addition to the schools dedicated fabrication and machining workshop, will be used to provide analytical and sensory environmental data and to implement LIFE Farm4More’s novel on-line biosensor.