Environmental monitoring is essential to safeguard communities from the release of contaminants into water. To meet the demand for fast, portable and cost-effective monitoring of toxic biological effects, Lincoln Ventures has been developing a tool to rapidly measure the toxicity of water borne contaminants by monitoring their effect on microorganisms. The test can identify the presence of harmful toxins within just five minutes.
The presence of toxins can affect normal water treatment processes, in extreme cases causing lengthy breakdowns in operation with an accompanying increase of offensive odours in the surrounding environment.
The basis of the technology is the use of a synthetic “mediator” in place of oxygen to measure cellular respiration in the test material. The surplus of the mediator allows for higher concentrations of microorganisms, in turn increasing the rate of oxidation of organic substances. An analytical signal that can be measured electrochemically is produced (Pasco et al. 2000), giving swift and accurate test results. The method has been modified to provide a rapid direct toxicity assessment with results in a matter of minutes.
The development of this technology has been funded by The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST). It has been patented internationally and a market ready version is planned to be widely available in 2008 after the completion of field testing in wastewater plants in Australasia, the US and Germany.
Publications:
Press Release: 9 May 2007 – Lincoln Ventures closing in on lucrative pollution testing market.
Tizzard, A; Webber, J;.Gooneratne, R; John, R; Hay, J; Pasco, N. 2004. MICREDOX®: Application for rapid biotoxicity assessment. Analytica Chimica Acta, 522, 197-205.
Pasco, N; Baronian, K; Jeffries, C; Hay, J. 2000. Biochemical Mediator Demand – A Novel Rapid Alternative for Measuring Biochemical Oxygen Demand. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 53: 613-618.
Lincoln Ventures Ltd | PO Box 133, Lincoln | Christchurch 7640
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