Conductivity system optimises production of biosurfactants

Holiferm was founded to meet demand for sustainable alternatives to petrochemical surfactants, which are used in household cleaning, laundry and personal care applications. The big challenge was to make the final product competitive on cost with traditional surfactants, particularly when producing in bulk. First in a lab and then in a pilot plant, the company developed a semi-continuous production process to replace the more expensive batch production method more commonly used.

Endress+Hauser was chosen to supply conductivity sensors to measure the phase separation automatically. The Memosens CLS82E sensor and the Liquiline CM442 transmitter were chosen because of their ease of use and scalability.

Memosens sensors store process data directly in the sensor head, meaning calibration or adjustments can be carried out in an optimal laboratory environment rather than in the field. The probes can be swapped out quickly and easily without interrupting the process.

"Because we're operating with live cultures it would cause an issue with sterilisation if we needed to take the probe out during the continuous process. Therefore, it is key to be able to switch the probes between batch runs quickly, easily and with reliability of accurate readings when restarting,” says Connor Makin, Holiferm’s Downstream Process Engineer.