Skip to main content
. 2019 Mar 8;19(5):1199. doi: 10.3390/s19051199

Table 1.

Ethanol sensor concepts and their advantages and disadvantages—a comparison.

Method Advantages (+) and Disadvantages (−)
Chromatographic methods [38,39] (+) Most sensitive and accurate method [40,41]
() Very high acquisition and operating costs [40,41], especially for smaller companies
() Well-trained operator necessary due to difficult handling of the method [40]
Optical sensors [42,43] (+) Wide fields of application due to large measuring ranges (2–50 vol% [42], 5–50 vol% [43])
() High LoD (1.5 vol% [42], 2 vol% [43])
() Significant cross-sensitivity to pH [42]
() Dye leaching over time possible [41]
Microbial [44] and enzymatic [45] biosensor (+) Measuring range: 0.05–5 mmol/L [44], 0.1–5 mmol/L [45], after dilution also usable for alcoholic beverages [44,45]
() Microbial and enzymatic activity depends on different factors (e.g., temperature [44,45], pH [45])
() Poor long-term stability due to loss of microbial and enzymatic activity over time [44,45]
Hydrogel-based sensor (presented in this work) (+) Wide measuring range (up to 50 vol%)
(+) Low LoD (0.060–0.56 vol%)
(+) No relevant salt or pH cross-sensitivity
(+) Low-cost sensor (~10€/Sensor)
(+) Small size, even more miniaturizable
(+) In-line process capability
() Measurement uncertainty must be improved