ABSTRACT
Bagasse sugarcane can be used as a solid substrate for microorganism cultivation. Despite fundamental, moisture real-time monitoring of these processes is still poorly investigated. Thus, this study aimed at developing and validating a TDR probe to estimate moisture in sugarcane bagasse, which is used as cultivation mean of microorganisms considering citric acid production. The proposed probe was physically evaluated and then used to validate the results. Calibration readings of the bagasse dielectric constant were taken up to its saturation, and subsequently compared to standard method and Topp's universal equation. In addition, we carried out studies in fixed-bed columns filled with bagasse at 80% moisture, monitoring its moisture through TDR probe, so we could validate the technique. We concluded such technique feasibility to estimate water content. Furthermore, we proposed a calibration equation using graphical tools and linear regression (θ = 0.0253 * Ka - 0.0025). As a result, we could then control and monitor bagasse sugarcane moisture in situ by the TDR technique.
TDR; moisture monitoring; solid-state cultivation; Aspergillus niger; dielectric constant
