Sensors research and development at KMITT was established to meet demands in indigenous development of sensors for the food and drink industry and environmental analysis. These activities have been made possible through the establishment of a multidisciplinary team in biochemistry, microbiology, chemistry, biotechnology, electrical engineering and instrumentation and signal processing.

1. Biosensors for Food & Drink Industry and for Environmental Monitoring
   1. Sucrose and Glucose Sensors
      Prototype of multi-enzymatic biosensors formeasuring sucrose/glucose concentration with high accuracy and rapid response time.
   2. Ethanol Sensors.
      Research on microbial sensors formeasuring ethanol concentration inalcoholic fermentation.
   3. Glutamate Sensors.
      Research on amperometric enzyme biosensors for measuring glutamateconcentration in the production of mono-sodium-glutamate (MSG).
   4. Organophosphorus Sensors.
      Research on piezoelectric crystal biosensors for the detection of organophosphorus pesticides.
2. Chemical Sensors.
   1. Phenol Sensors.
      Electrochemical sensors used in environmental monitoring for the detection of phenol.
   2. Hydrogen Peroxide Sensors
      Detection of H₂O₂ cathodically using metal microparticles dispersed in polymeric film electrode.

Prototype of multi-enzymatic sensors for sucrose determination.

An amperometric sucrose biosensor was constructed for application in the food and drink industries. This prototype is composed of a microprocessor analysis system, a potentiostat and an enzyme electrode. The biocatalytic components are glucose oxidase, mutarotase and invertase,
co-immobilized on platirized carbon paper. The linear range is 0-8 millimolar and the response time was 1-2 minutes. The enzyme electrode could be stored longer than 12 months. For continuous use, 80% of its initial activity remains during 18 hours of 100 measurements.

Sucrose biosensors are advantageous in that they provide simple and rapid automated analyses, with low running cost. There are many food industries in which real benefits will be obtained from their introduction such as the sugar industries, sweetened condensed milk industry, canned juice industry and distillery industry.

Example of other research work

1. Detection of organophosphorus pesticide with a piezoelectric crystal biosensor
2. Enzyme electrode for starch measurement
3. Amperometric enzyme electrode for L-glutamate measurement