Instruments for Conductometric Techniques

The authors remarked that the instrumental advances and the associated open-source project recently reported can spread out the use of this universal detector for food analysis. Furthermore, the inherent portability of the C D system could make it an ideal instrument for on-site food testing. One example that combines creativity and the instrumental simplicity of this home-made conductivity detection is the analysis of monoalkyl carbonates in carbonated alcoholic beverages (sparkling wine, beer, and mixed drinks) [151]. By using two detectors, the authors not only demonstrated the presence of monoethyl carbonate (MFC) in the selected drinks but also proposed that the low pH values were responsible for the larger concentrations of MEC observed in lager beer and mixtures of rum and cola. In addition, the possibility to control not only a C D detector but also a series of valves using open-source software (Arduino) has been recently demonstrated [152]. 

An array of commercial instruments is also available to perform conductivity detection. Among others, it is worth mentioning the ICS-5000-1- (Dionex), model 432 (Waters), model 650 (Chomtech), and a series of detectors and modules from eDAQ (http //www.edaq.com). Most of these systems feature small cell volumes ( 0.1 pi) and large dynamic ranges (up to 15 000 pS/cm). 

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