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Ultra-sensitive ethylene post-harvest monitor based on cavity ring-down spectroscopy

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Abstract

We describe the application of cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) to the detection of trace levels of ethylene in ambient air in a cold storage room of a fruit packing facility over a several month period. We compare these results with those obtained using gas chromatography (GC), the current gold standard for trace ethylene measurements in post-harvest applications. The CRDS instrument provided real-time feedback to the facility, to optimize the types of fruit stored together, and the amount of room ventilation needed to maintain sub-10 ppb ethylene levels for kiwi fruit storage. Our CRDS instrument achieved a detection limit of two parts-per-billion volume (ppbv) in 4.4 minutes of measurement time.

©2006 Optical Society of America

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Figures (9)

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of cavity-ring down optical train, (b) exponential cavity ring-down decay curve and associated equation, where t 0 is the laser shut off time and τ is the ring-down decay constant, (c) spectral acquisition of ring-down waveforms as a function of wavelength, where the rate is proportional to absorption, and, (d) optical loss (1/cτ) spectrum as a function of wavelength covering an absorption feature.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a cavity ring-down optical engine using a three-mirror optical cavity and direct laser modulation.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Photograph of assembled and integrated cavity ring-down trace ethylene gas sensor.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. (a) Target spectral region showing isolated lines of ethylene in the presence of carbon dioxide and, (b) pressure dependence of ethylene peak absorption and ethylene peak width.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Target spectrum of four different concentrations of ethylene.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. Measurement of ethylene concentration (82.8 ppb) over 92 hours of sampling showing repeatability (precision) of 1.1 ppb.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7. Comparison of cavity ring-down and gas chromatography measurements of four standard concentrations of ethylene at UC Davis.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8. Comparison of cavity ring-down and gas samples analyzed by gas chromatography of ambient ethylene concentrations at the Selma packing facility.
Fig. 9.
Fig. 9. Measured ethylene concentration in a kiwi fruit cold storage room at a packing facility in Selma, CA, over a period of 5 weeks. (a) Note the difference in ethylene levels prior to and post removal of Asian pears, on day 10, which were stored in the same room. The sharp changes in ethylene concentration are due to venting the room. (b) Shows 25 days of monitoring of the storage room containing only kiwi fruit.

Equations (2)

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1 τ = εlC + n ( 1 R ) + L T rt
C = [ 1 τ 1 τ 0 ] 1 εc
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