Biomass determination.
The reasons for and historical backgrounds of biomass determination are discussed under the aspects of theoretical and practical importance, usefulness and representativity. Off-line methods are evaluated and compared with on-line methods; constraints of applications and conclusiveness of results are rated. Special emphasis is given to the fact that mere knowledge of a bio-mass concentration is not sufficiently valuable to learn more about physiology nor to determine the effectiveness of a biotechnological process. A combination of several different alternative measuring principles in parallel as well as the exploitation of software sensors is proposed as a promising future solution.
Institute for Biotechnology, ETH Zürich Hönggerberg, Switzerland.
B
B
Sonnleitner
G
G
Locher
A
A
Fiechter
D004463:Ecology; D008722:Methods