BactoSense - Green Business Award

BactoSense

bNovate Technologies

How would you describe your solution in a few words?

BactoSense developed by bNovate is the first automated and online industrial flow cytometer for fast microbiological monitoring. It continuously monitors microbial parameters and quickly detects any change in bacterial count, reducing the measurement time from days to 20 minutes.

Automated flow cytometer for online monitoring of water © bNovate

Compact and robust, BactoSense can be connected anywhere in the water supply network. It provides automatic, online and remote monitoring of water – raising an alarm if bacteria reach problematic levels.

Thanks to the smart sustainable cartridge system containing all reagents needed for up to 1000 measurements, a laboratory is no longer needed. Mobile, the instrument can be used by anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Who are your customers?

Target users are water utilities, drinking and bottled water industries. They have to ensure safe and clean water production and distribution. BactoSense allows online monitoring of the water quality and measurements prior to distribution as well as process optimisations reducing water waste.

What are the environmental benefits of your solution?

BactoSense features a sustainable, refillable cartridge system that contains all reagents and waste. The compact device can either be transported to the sample site or integrated directly into the water treatment process. Like an on-site mini-lab, it thus eliminates the need to transport samples to a laboratory – reducing CO₂ emissions.

On-site water monitoring with BactoSense replaces conventional analytical plating methods that consume many disposable plastic tests – avoiding a lot of plastic waste.

In addition, less energy is needed for water treatment and process optimisations such as the reduction of chlorine use are possible.

How do you manage to exist on the market?

Although somewhat disruptive, our solution is very well recognized and appreciated in the drinking water market. Our onsite, online analysis of bacteria in water adds much value to our customers in giving them the insight they need to make quick and smart decisions and the ability to react quickly, all without having to transport samples to the laboratory, saving time, money and energy.

Many influential people in the industry have adopted and endorsed our solution, making it easier for others to follow. Today half of our revenue comes from repeated sales while through an increased visibility more and more new customers discover our solution and want to introduce it into their ecosystem.