Fermentation Endpoint Detection of Soybean Using Specially Designed P d-Coated FBG Stress Sensor

Jawad Mirza¹Ahmad Atieh²Benish Kanwal³Firdos Kanwal³Ahmad Almogren⁴Imran Aziz^5*

• ¹HITEC University, Taxila, Pakistan
• ²University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• ³Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
• ⁴King Saud University, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• ⁵Uppsala University, Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden

Determining the fermentation endpoint of organic compounds is critical for optimizing yield, ensuring the product consistency, and minimizing byproducts. However, conventional detection methods are slow, labor-intensive, and lack real-time monitoring, limiting their suitability for industrial automation. We propose a novel, non-destructive method for real-time detection of fermentation endpoint of Soybean using Palladium (P d)-coated fiber Bragg grating (FBG) stress sensor. The fermentation endpoint can be detected by monitoring the shift in Bragg wavelength caused by the stress in P d-coated FBG sensor due to the volume expansion of the P d coating upon the formation of Palladium Hydride (P dH x ) after Hydrogen (H 2 ) gas absorption, which is released as a byproduct during Soybean fermentation. The P d-coated FBG stress sensor is analytically designed and validated using OptiSystem simulation tool, achieving a high sensitivity of 61.6 pm/MPa. Our findings confirm that this method provides a simple, efficient, and real-time solution for monitoring the fermentation process of organic compounds that produce H 2 offering significant advantages over traditional techniques.