Biofilm and biofouling (test phase)

The term biofouling refers to a phenomenon which may occur if water contains organic impurities. Certain bacteria may also enter the pipe system. Once they are in the pipe system, these bacteria multiply in the water, coat the pipe walls with a greenish or brownish film and sometimes cause major corrosion damage. Such phenomena may also lead to pipe blockage. Biofouling is virtually unknown in the domestic sector but occurs time and time again in industrial installations. Coping with this problem using classical methods, such or heat or acid, is very difficult and very expensive. One of the main problems encountered in classical rehabilitation is ensuring that all areas of the pipe network really are flushed. This is frequently virtually impossible owing to the complexity of many pipe systems. If rehabilitation does not kill off all microorganisms, the biofilm will build up again after a short time.

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During the course of several test runs in the laboratory, Merus, using specifically developed equipment, was able to determine that biofouling was able to be reduced or stopped entirely. Field trials are currently underway in practice in order to confirm these laboratory results. 
The fact that Merus works even in stagnant or standing water and that the oscillations are propagated in the water would be a very major advantage in such cases since even dead legs 1 are affected by the oscillations and even the biofilm at these points is influenced
On this subject, we are seeking further partners interested in testing.

1 The term "dead legs" means parts of a pipe through which the medium does not flow, e.g. a stub line leading to a valve which is opened rarely or never.