Concentration Monitoring of Ethylene for the perfect Banana

The smartMODUL-FLOW from smartGAS Mikrosensorik GmbH (Germany) is now available for the detection of ethylene (C2H4). The new gas sensor can detect ethylene with concentrations up to 2.4 Vol.-%.

Ethylene is a plant hormone playing an important role in the ripening process of fruit like apple, banana, or tomato. This effect was already known in ancient times, where ripe and unripe fruits were stored together. The ripe fruits emit ethylene and stimulate the ripening process of the unripe fruits. Today bananas are harvested green in South America and Asia and are shipped to Europe in cooling containers or on cooling ships, where the ripening process is stopped. After arriving in Europe the bananas finish the ripening in special storages, where gassing with an ethylene concentration between 100 and 1,000 ppm takes place. For optimisation of the ripening process the concentration of ethylene has to be monitored very carefully. The new smartMODUL-FLOW has a detection range of 0 to 2,000 ppm and is therefore the ideal sensor for this sensible application.

The sensor utilises infrared (NDIR) absorption and has various advantages compared with other types of sensors. By using highly selective IR absorption technology and integrated optical gas filters cross sensitivities with other gases are reduced to an absolute minimum. Due to the dual-beam-technique the sensor shows practically no ageing or long term drift. The sensor is available with many standard interfaces like Modbus ASCII with RS485, UART or 4…20 mA enabling an easy integration into existing control architectures.