Aquamarijn™ MicroSieve Filtration Media

Applications in the brewing industry

AQUAMARIJN

Applications in brewing industry:
In the production chain for the beverage industry and beer breweries, microbiological control is of vital importance to validate the quality of the beverages. The detection of micro-organisms (yeast cells and bacteria) as early as possible can prevent the occurrence of production losses. In these situations in which a fast count result (within half an hour) is required, the common 'plate count' method cannot be used. This method requires membrane filtration, cell cultivation for 72 hours at 37° C and counting of the obtained colonies. Each colony and/or its size represents a filtered micro-organism. The conventional testing approach takes a very long time and an alternative very rapid test is valued highly. In collaboration with several leading breweries, we have developed a new, fast test method using a microsieve to count directly (by using a fluorescence microscope) the number of dead and/or living micro-organisms in a given volume of beer sample.

With the new technique, the liquid sample is filtered over the Aquamarijn microsieve and the membrane is ready for inspection immediately. Because the total membrane surface of the Aquamarijn microsieve is small, it is easy to count individual micro-organisms. Yet, because one of the unique properties of the microsieve is the high flux, it is possible to filter 100 ml of beer or other liquid within minutes and collect all cells and bacteria present. The membrane is optically flat which allows for easy scanning of the surface. Using proper staining directly on the surface of the microsieve, the micro-organisms can be subjected to specific tests (for example dead/alive). In conjunction with fluorescence techniques, the surface the microsieve is advantageous because of the complete absence of auto-fluorescence.

For automated detection methods, image analysis is a helpful tool for fast classification of the number and shapes of micro-organisms. The recognition of these micro-organisms is simplified with good image preparation using proper staining of cells and arranging cells on a surface in a regular geometry. The Aquamarijn microsieve fulfills in this respect these requirements.

Furthermore, with the MAS method it is possible to differentiate with selective staining agents between dead and living cells, something that is difficult with 'plate count' (living cells only), ATP (living cells only) and PCR (dead plus living cells) methods.

The presented microbiological detection method for a fast detection of micro-organisms may be used in applications other than beer screening. The MAS method may also be applied for the quality control of drinking water on the presence of Cryptosporidium, Legionella and E-Coli. Furthermore in the biomedical field it may be applied to observe cell growth. For recognition of cell aberrations it is worthwhile to place the cells on a regular sieve grid.

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