Observation of non-linear biomass-capacitance correlations: reasons and implications for bioprocess control

Electrical capacitance has been discussed as a real time measure for living biomass concentration in technical bioreactors such as brewery (fermentation) tanks. Commonly, a linear correlation between biomass concentration and capacitance is assumed. While following the growth and subsequent lipid formation of the yeast Arxula adeninivorans we observed non-linearity between biomass concentration and capacitance. Capacitance deviation from linearity coincided with incipient lipid formation and depended on the intracellular lipid content. As the extent of deviation between capacitance and biomass concentration was proportional to the lipid concentration, it was considered as a quantitative measure of intracellular product formation. The correlation between shifts in dielectric relaxation (summarized as characteristic frequency of the Cole-Cole equation) and lipid content could not be explained by interfacial polarization on the lipid droplets alone. However, the parameters of the Cole-Cole equation were found to be a clear indicator for different phases of growth and lipid production. Integrating all results in a redundancy analysis (RDA), we were able to accurately describe the formation of cellular lipid inclusions. Our measurements are thus potentially valuable as components of future bioprocess control strategies targeting intracellular products such as proteins or biopolyesters.