SBIR-STTR Award

There is a continuing trend throughout the world toward consumption of more fresh and minimally processed foods. Availability of high quality fresh fruits and vegetables is now year round, thanks to improved packaging, storage technologies and rapid global transportation. The abundance of year round fresh produce is dependent on a vast infrastructure including specialized refrigerated storage facilities. Storage of fruit and vegetables results in eventual ripening due to production and release of ethylene, in turn resulting in further ripening of fruit and spoilage. Ethylene monitoring is currently not a widely adopted process in many packing houses and cold storage facilities. Current ethylene sensors are limited in detection accuracy and detectors with significant accuracy are too large (suitcase size) and too expensive (several thousand dollars) for packing houses to afford. Localization of more rapidly ripening fruit and sources of ethylene is challenged by the high cost and inconvenience in detection. Such localization could provide strategies to minimize ethylene production and to control spoilage and rapid ripening process. The purpose of this project is to develop a cost-effective ethylene sensor (~$400 or less and less than $100 in mass production mode) for monitoring ethylene in air at extremely low concentrations of 10 ppb and lower. In this project we will demonstrate the integration and functionality of our gas sampling technology combined with a unique electrochemical ethylene monitoring technique to produce a highly sensitive and reliable ethylene detector.

Ethylene gas released from fruit, vegetables, and flowers, during post-harvest storage and transportation, results in over ripening and spoilage. The current project focuses on the development of an affordable, yet accurate ethylene sensor for monitoring the stage of ripening and prevention of ethylene-induced spoilage.