MicrobMonitor2

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Aviation Week & Space Technology awarded ECHA a Technology Innovation Award For Industrial Leadership in Developing Smartgel (subsquently renamed MicrobMonitor2) for testing aircraft fuel.

MicrobMonitor2 won the prestigious Institute of Petroleum Award for Innovation in 2002.

MicrobMonitor2 was awarded Millennium Product Status as a creative and innovative product for the new millennium by the UK Design Council.

WHAT IS THE TEST USED FOR?

MicrobMonitor2 has been developed to test all fuels and lubricants in storage, distribution and use. It is the first QUANTITATIVE on-site test. It is also a sensitive test for detecting microbes in water and any other fluid sample.

IATA approved test for the aviation industry

IATA recommends that all fuel tanks in all aircraft are tested annually. High risk aircraft should be tested much more frequently.

WHAT IS THE TEST?

The test consists of a screw capped rectangular glass bottle, partly filled with a thixotropic microbiological culture gel. A measured volume of sample is added to the gel using one of the sterile syringes provided. The bottle is shaken which liquefies the gel and disperses the sample. The bottle is kept warm (or incubated) for one or more days; all fuel and oil spoilage microbes in the sample can grow in the gel to produce visible "colonies". These are stained purple by a growth indicator in the gel and are easily counted, or their number is estimated by comparison to a chart. The figure obtained is numerically equivalent to the original number of microbial particles present in the sample tested. These microbial particles are referred to as colony forming units (cfu).

WHAT CAN I TEST WITH MicrobMonitor2

• Aviation, automotive and marine fuel
• Fuel for power generation and heating oil
• Heavy fuel and crude oil
• Lubricant and hydraulic oils
• Water below or associated with any of the above fluids
• Aqueous Metal Working Fluids and straight cutting oils
• Process and cooling waters
• Any process fluids or products
• Swabs of surfaces; the swab is thrust into the MicrobMonitor2 gel which is then shaken
  

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?

• Detects active Hormoconis resinae and other moulds, Yeasts and Bacteria
• MicrobMonitor2 will detect mould spores. Some other Rapid tests available will not readily detect mould spores
• Sensitive enough to detect low level contamination and can therefore be used as an early warning that growth has started in a tank. MicrobMonitor2 will detect as few as 2000 active microbes or mould spores per litre
• Quick and easy to use
• Heavy contamination can often be detected overnight
• Faster and simpler than the standard laboratory test method yet still gives fully quantitative counts per litre of fuel or per ml of water
• Simple to read results
• Results indicate the severity of an infection
• Many times cheaper than a laboratory test
• Can be used at any time during biocide treatment to validate the efficacy of the procedure
• Other tests which are available will continue to give positive results for many hours or even days after microbes have been killed by a biocide treatment
• The MicrobMonitor2 test can be used to test both oil and water phases
• Award winning and patented
  

WHO CAN USE THE TEST

ANYONE - Full instructions are supplied and no special training is required to use the MicrobMonitor2 test.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Many micro-organisms are able to grow in water below or dispersed in all fuels and oils, attacking and feeding on the hydrocarbons and the additives present. Initially most of the growth is at the water/fuel interface or it adheres to tank surfaces, but the microbes produce surfactants and can readily spread into the fuel or oil phase whenever the system is disturbed. Large numbers of microbes dispersed in fuel cause injector, filter and pipe plugging, engine malfunction, fuel volume measurement errors and coalescer failures. In aircraft wings they accelerate corrosion. Small numbers of microbes in fuel indicate that microbial growth is taking place somewhere in the tank or system and a potential for a fuel fouling problem exists if it is disturbed. In lubricating oils microbes cause fouling, additive depletion and corrosion.

AVIATION INDUSTRY

The MicrobMonitor2 test has been developed to indicate the severity of contamination in both fuel and associated water and in particular to give early warning of growth in aircraft fuel tanks before an operational problem occurs. Systems or equipment can be monitored regularly and ‘Warning’ and ‘Action’ Limits can be set.

IATA has specififed the following; aircraft tank drain samples are tested and if contamination is detected it is taken as an early warning that microbiological growth has started in the tanks. The action levels of contamination in fuel are set so that operational problems can be avoided.

• Negligible; up to 4000 cfu per litre. No action.
• Moderate; 4000-20,000 cfu per litre. Confirm. Then treat fuel in the aircraft tanks with biocide.
• Heavy; Greater than 20,000 cfu per litre. Confirm. Clean tanks and treat with biocide.

If water is recovered in the sample this should also be tested and the following action levels of contamination have been set

• Negligible; up to 1000 cfu per ml. No Action.
• Moderate; 1000-10,000 cfu per ml. Confirm. Then biocide treat fuel in tanks.
• Heavy; Greater than 10,000 cfu per ml. Confirm. Clean tanks and treat with biocide.

After biocide use, IATA recommends a retest to confirm the efficacy of the treatment.

ECHA has developed the MicrobMonitor2 sampling pack, a 1 litre sterile sampling bottle designed to enable easy separation of fuel and water phases. The MicrobMonitor2 sampling pack is supplied with a sterile alcohol soaked wipe for cleaning the sampling point and tool before taking the sample.

ORDERING INFORMATION

Although MicrobMonitor2 is manufactured and dispatched by ECHA, the sales and marketing of this product are now handled globally by Air BP. We have an agreement with Air BP that we can continue to supply the product directly to clients if it is supplied with other ECHA products or services. See below.

For orders which are for MicrobMonitor2 only please direct your order to Air BP by

Internet: www.microbmonitor.com
e-mail; microbmonitor2@bp.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1442 223966 Fax; +44 (0) 1442 223960
Post: BP International Ltd. ("Air BP"), Breakspear Park, Breakspear Way, Hemel Hempstead, Herts., HP2 4UL, UK