Instantaneous Microbial Monitoring Of Compressed Gases

Compressed air and other gases are used for a range of applications in pharmaceutical and food and beverage manufacturing, including applications involving direct product contact. As such, these gases should be monitored for levels of microbial and particulate contamination. Azbil BioVigilant’s IMD-A® systems are useful tools for microbial monitoring that offer the advantages of increased sensitivity, instantaneous detection, and real-time reporting, as compared to traditional growth-based methods.

When used with a high pressure diffuser (HPD) to reduce gas pressure, the IMD-A 350 system is able to sample at a calibrated flow rate of 28.3 LPM (1 CFM), thus enabling detection of microbes from a pre-specified volume of gas for accurate quantitation. The IMD-A system uses precision components to maintain a steady flow rate under some degree of both positive and negative pressure loads and any flow deviations will trigger flow alarms to alert the operator. The alarms, if any, are also recorded in the audit trail.