Spectrophotometric flow injection monitoring of sulfide during sugar fermentation

A spectrophotometric flow injection procedure involving N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DMPD) is applied to the sulfide monitoring of a sugar fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae under laboratory conditions. The gaseous chemical species evolving from the fermentative process, mainly CO2, are trapped allowing a cleaned sample aliquot to be collected and introduced into the flow injection analyzer. Measurement rate, signal repeatability, detection limit and reagent consumption per measurement were estimated as 150 h−1, 0.36% (n = 20), 0.014 mg L−1 S and 120 μg DMPD, respectively. The main characteristics of the monitoring record are discussed. The strategy is worthwhile for selecting yeast strain, increasing the industrial ethanol production and improving the quality of wines.