Trade Fairs, Exhibitions, Conferences

IFAT is the largest trade fair for the environmental technology sector and offers companies, authorities and scientific institutions from the water, sewage, waste and raw materials industries the opportunity to present themselves every two years at the exhibition center in Munich. The Fraunhofer IMM will be presenting its industry-relevant research work on water analysis using PCR and water quality monitoring.

Visit us at the Fraunhofer joint booth in hall B2 booth 338. Make an appointment and get in touch with our applied research experts.

InBaDtec – On-site biological contamination detection in industrial fluid

InBaDtec aims to fulfill such technology gaps in order to realize automated preparation of water samples in prior to the use of qPCR analysis. It allows the direct on-site detection of pathogens from large amounts of water sample (one liter or more) in as fast as one hour. The integrated steps are mainly sample pre-cleaning, microorganism concentration, lysis, mixing, and PCR. An extra optional step to distinguish between live and dead pathogens can also be integrated to avoid false positive results from dead microorganisms. The InBaDtec project targets two initial applications, one is analyzing the Legionella in wastewater, and the other one is analyzing the Hormoconis resinae in kerosene. The processes are all done automatically, thus enabling point-of-use detection. The "InBaDtec" system itself can be completely cleaned and reused.

The Fraunhofer IMM device basically contains:

• a cleaning module to first remove excess dirt
• a two-step concentration module to reduce the water sample volume from liter to micro-liter level that can be used for PCR, while maximizing bacteria concentration efficiency
• a lysis unit to break apart the microorganisms allowing the release of its genetic material which is then mixed with pre-loaded lyophilized PCR reagents
• a miniaturized ultra-fast PCR module previously developed at IMM

IMFLUSS - Miniaturized flow cytometry

Germs can occur anywhere in the drinking water network. Central monitoring in the treatment plants alone is often insufficient to prevent contaminated drinking water from reaching the end user. A comprehensive monitoring of microbial contamination in the drinking water network and in industrial process water requires fully automated, cost-efficient, and compact sensor systems with which the microorganisms can be detected quickly and sensitively directly at the point of sampling.

One promising detection method is fluorescence-based flow cytometry. To overcome the issues of commercially available systems, which are bulky, comprise expensive optical components and require manual sample processing, a novel flow cytometer based on fluorescence lifetime measurements with sub-ns time resolution is being developed. Under the “IMFLUSS” project important steps towards its realization have been made.

AutoNutri - On-site multi-ion monitoring system for on-line nutrient-laden water control in vertical hydroponic systems to minimize environmental impact

The aim of the project is the development of an on-site multi-ion monitoring system for the automated on-line control of fertilizer input in vertical closed-loop hydroponic systems based on feedback-controlled feeding of nutrients. The monitoring system enables effective use of nutrients for optimal plant growth through targeted regeneration of the nutrient solution, thus contributing to a reduction in water pollution due to premature disposal of nutrients dissolved in water into the environment.

Nutrient monitoring is based on the direct potentiometric determination of ions using ion-selective sensors. The choice of ions is characteristic of the growth of five selected crops. The sensors are integrated into a microfluidic system, which allows automated sample acquisition and adjustment of the measurement matrix. Prototypes will be made available to end users for beta testing.

Fraunhofer IMM develops the microfluidic based ion monitoring system as a laboratory demonstrator consisting of the modules: sensor technology, microfluidic chip, actuator technology, electronics, and software control.

“On-site method for detection and quantification of microorganisms in water.”
Dr. Sisi Li (Fraunhofer IMM)
Monday May 13, 2024 | 4:00-4:20 p.m. CEST
Green Stage in hall 13 booth D40
[To the presentation on the trade fair page]