ONLINE RHEOMETER FOR THE MONITORING OF POLYMER FERMENTATIONS - OPERATING-CONDITIONS

A turbine rheometer was developed and tested for on-line measurements of rheological properties of fermentation broths. The organism used in the test broth was Aureobasidium pullulans. Although the rheometer constants were found to be dependent on the nature of calibration fluids used, the variations in these constants had little effect on the measured rheological parameters of the power law equation. The rheological parameters did not vary with liquid f low rate through the on-line rheometer, and the repeatability of the measured rheological parameters were high. The broth showed some tendency to thixotropic (time-dependent) behaviour, but this was found to be negligible after 15 seconds of shear.