Bottled Water Quality Monitoring
Continuous monitoring of microbiological quality throughout the production process of bottled water, spring water, mineral water and other beverages.
Bottled Water – Product Quality Control
A microbiological contamination of products is the worst-case scenario for each bottling company. It causes enormous subsequent costs, considerable damage to the manufacturer’s reputation and in the worst case customers can be harmed.
The ColiMinder provides the important parameter of microbiological quality fully automatic and in almost real time for continuous monitoring throughout the bottling process.
The ColiMinder can be deployed at-line in the process to monitor raw water, water treatment as well as critical control points throughout the bottling process. Once microbiological activity exceeds a determined limit the ColiMinder automatically notifies responsible parties.
Microbiological contamination can originate from raw water or can occur in the process itself, especially any kind of filters represent a potential source of risk.
A timely performed CIP process minimizes this risk. Due to a long incubation period, microbiological laboratory tests cannot be used to determine the right time to perform a CIP. With the ColiMinder installed, the decision to stop production and schedule a CIP can be taken based on actual measurement results.
This applies to all production and bottling processes for mineral water, spring water, bottled water, soft drinks, breweries, dairy production, including sterile and injection water production.
Benefits of the ColiMinder in the Water Bottling Process
REAL-TIME WARNINGS
In case of contamination events in the production line.
SAFEGUARD YOUR PRODUCT QUALITY
during entire production process.
EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION-MAKING TO CIP
based on real-time knowledge about microbial quality in your system
CHECK YOUR FINAL PRODUCT
prior to dispatch – in only 15 minutes instead of days.
IDENTIFY CONTAMINATION SOURCES
Fast and easy.
INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY IN INJECTION WATER TREATMENT
Adjust treatment intensity to actual contamination
The ColiMinder microbiological analyzer can be installed at any stage of the water bottling process for real-time monitoring of microbiological contamination.
Raw water intake (municipal, groundwater, wells)
Storage tanks
Critical Control Points
Injection Water
Water treatment
Bottling line
Filtration (Sand, AC, UF, NF, RO)
Final product
EXAMPLE: MEASUREMENT RESULTS OF WATER PRODUCTION FOR SOFT DRINK BOTTLING
Project: The ColiMinder is used to measure microbiological activity at different points of a soft drink producers bottling plant, as the plant had recurring contamination problems.
With 15 minutes time to result it only took one day to locate the contamination hotspots within the process. The ColiMinder Total Activity measurements have shown to be much more sensitive than the HPC tests used by the quality lab to determine CFU/ml. All HPC tests of measurements on the right side showed 0 CFU/ml.
The ColiMinder measures the specific metabolic (enzymatic) activity of the target organisms present in the sample.
The measured value provides information about the energy turnover of living organisms in the sample. Living organisms need energy, which they gain through their metabolism, so the metabolic activity reflects the energetic turnover of the existing microorganisms.
The measured activity directly indicates the faecal or microbiological contamination level of the water.
ColiMinder can automatically monitor any process step – critical control points – in water treatment processes, bottled water production, wastewater water treatment and discharge, industrial and process water treatment and discharge, providing a direct visualization of microbial dynamics of your processes. It also monitors any type of surface water, bathing and recreational water and raw water, be it fresh or saline water, providing a direct visualization of microbial dynamics of the respective water body.
The timeline displays any change in microbial contamination, providing precise and valuable information that was previously unavailable.
Since the results of the ColiMinder are available in near real time, microbiological water quality is now available as an evidence-based decision parameter. In addition, real-time alerts can be sent when defined bacterial contamination limits are exceeded.
The ColiMinder reliably detects any type of contamination, whether it is of fecal or microbial origin.
Different add-on modules are available to ensure stable and reliable sampling and results, even in harsh environmental conditions.
The measured enzymatic activity of the sample provides a direct answer to the questions: “how high is the faecal contamination of the sample?” and “how high is the microbiological contamination of the sample?”
Depending on the reagent used, the measurement results are specific for the corresponding target organism.
The results not only provide direct quantitative information about the microbial contamination of the product, but shape and course of the measurement timeline also contain valuable information about the dynamics of the microbiological load and thus allow conclusions to be drawn about the causes of changes. Depending on the reagent used, the measurement results are specific for the corresponding target organism.
A recent scientific study published in Water Research shows that the ColiMinder is the most sensitive instrument available on the market for monitoring microbial quality of water. Please see: Favere, J., Waegenaar, F., Boon, N., & De Gusseme, B. (2021). Online microbial monitoring of drinking water: How do different techniques respond to contaminations in practice?, published in Water Research Journal.
The reliability of the ColiMinder has been demonstrated in several installations where the devices have been providing reliable measurement results in continuous operation since 2015.
Maintenance:
Thanks to the sophisticated system for fully automatic cleaning and calibration, the maintenance effort is limited to refilling the consumables. Replacement of the silicone hoses is recommended every 2 years, otherwise no maintenance is required.
The ColiMinder instruments measure absolutely stable, no manual calibration is necessary as the instruments calibrate themselves automatically at regular intervals.
The ColiMinder can measure any type of sample without pre-treatment.
It has no problem with suspended solids or turbid samples. Even fluctuating background fluorescence has no effect on the measurement result.
It has an IP65 protected housing and can measure in the 0°C to 40°C temperature range.
The ColiMinder provides operational monitoring as recommended by the WHO, the EU Drinking Water Directive, and others.
Real-time measurement of current microbiological quality enables rapid response and correction, so the ColiMinder helps you to meet specified limits at the lowest cost and with the highest level of safety.
A correlation between standard lab results and ColiMinder results can be established and used internally but the system is not intended to replace compliance testing.
In contrast to classical culture-based laboratory methods, which are based on the cultivation of bacteria, the enzymatic measurement method of the ColiMinder is based on the direct measurement of the metabolic activity of the target organisms. There is therefore no direct and generally valid conversion between the two methods.
In general, however, a correlation table can be created through comparative measurements, which can then be used for conversion.
