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Concurrent lactic and volatile fatty acid analysis of microbial fermentation samples by gas chromatography with heat pre-treatment
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Concurrent lactic and volatile fatty acid analysis of microbial fermentation samples by gas chromatography with heat pre-treatment

D. Darwin, W. Charles and R. Cord-Ruwisch
Journal of Chromatographic Science, Vol.56(1), pp.1-5
2017
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Abstract

Organic acid analysis of fermentation samples can be readily achieved by gas chromatography (GC), which detects volatile organic acids. However, lactic acid, a key fermentation acid is non-volatile and can hence not be quantified by regular GC analysis. However the addition of periodic acid to organic acid samples has been shown to enable lactic acid analysis by GC, as periodic acid oxidizes lactic acid to the volatile acetaldehyde. Direct GC injection of lactic acid standards and periodic acid generated inconsistent and irreproducible peaks, possibly due to incomplete lactic acid oxidation to acetaldehyde. The described method is developed to improve lactic acid analysis by GC by using a heat treated derivatization pre-treatment, such that it becomes independent of the retention time and temperature selection of the GC injector. Samples containing lactic acid were amended by periodic acid and heated in a sealed test tube at 100°C for at least 45 min before injecting it to the GC. Reproducible and consistent peaks of acetaldehyde were obtained. Simultaneous determination of lactic acid, acetone, ethanol, butanol, volatile fatty acids could also be accomplished by applying this GC method, enabling precise and convenient organic acid analysis of biological samples such as anaerobic digestion and fermentation processes.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.51 Dairy & Animal Sciences
3.51.84 Ruminant Nutrition
Web Of Science research areas
Biochemical Research Methods
Chemistry, Analytical
ESI research areas
Chemistry
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