New methods for monitoring bacteria

Undesirable bacteria in technical systems cost Danish businesses billions of kroner every year. The Danish Technological Institute is heading the innovation consortium ‘At-line Monitoring of Bacteria-AMBA’, which is working to solve the problem.

Together with university and business partners, the Danish Technological Institute is working on combining molecular microbiology, nanotechnology and advanced spectroscopic techniques to develop an analysis platform which can quickly and accurately monitor and check microbiotic processes in the surrounding area –
even outside the laboratory.

- We expect the results from the consortium’s work to lead to huge cost savings in areas such as corrosion, hygiene and health, says Mikael Poulsen, section head at the Danish Technological Institute’s centre for Chemicals and Water Technology.

The consortium brings together two fields in which Danish expertise is world-renowned and which offer major export opportunities for Danish industry, namely oil production and biological water purification. The chosen methodological approach is universal and can be used in all systems where monitoring of microbiology is of importance, including hospitals, food production facilities, cooling systems and water treatment plants.