Innovative Gas Sensors Expand Sartorius Stedim Biotech’s PAT Portfolio

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB), a leading international supplier of pharmaceutical and biotech equipment, has entered into a global sales partnership with BlueSens, the German experts in gasometric engineering. BlueSens is a highly specialized provider of sensor technology, which is used by the biopharmaceutical industry for inline measurement of gases in microbial fermentation and cell cultivation processes. The cooperation agreement between SSB and BlueSens provides that, alongside BlueSens, SSB will assume global marketing and distribution of its partner company’s oxygen and carbon dioxide sensors, and sell these as private label products under SSB’s brand name BioPAT®Xgas.

Over the past years, SSB has continuously expanded its process analytics portfolio in the area of sensor technology in order to measure critical process parameters, such as pH and dissolved oxygen, temperature, glucose, lactate and biomass, non-invasively and in real time. The new oxygen and carbon dioxide sensors are further important additions to SSB’s range of analytical products. BioPAT®Xgas enables precise, reproducible information to be obtained about the progress of fermentation, without having to take samples and analyze them off-line in a laboratory.

Stefan Schlack, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SSB, said: "These sensors make our bioreactors even more intelligent. They analyze metabolic processes in real time during cultivation and help our customers better understand their processes. Used in combination with our software, these sensors are powerful tools for optimizing biopharmaceutical production processes and accelerating development."

Dr. Holger Müller, Sales and Marketing Manager at BlueSens, stated: “In fermentation, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is among the leading suppliers worldwide and has a strong, global sales network. We would like to leverage these advantages in order to reach considerably more customers. I am looking forward to our partnership.“

BioPAT®Xgas will be sold as an equipment package that includes SSB’s single-use and reusable bioreactors. Ready to use right out of the box, the sensors are completely integrated into SSB’s BioPAT® DCU control units and SCADA software, called BioPAT®MFCS.

In conjunction with Sartorius software, BioPAT®Xgas analyzes critical process variables, such as oxygen uptake rate (OUR), carbon dioxide production rate (CPR) or respiratory quotient (RQ).