In this issue of the Water Industry Journal, we speak to Dr Jing Liu about his work in the realm of anaerobic fermentation analysis.

As an Associate Professor in the field of Environmental Biotechnology and Bioenergy at Lund University, Sweden, Dr Liu’s research over the past 20 years, has focused on the instrumentation, control and automation of the biogas production process.

Dr Liu has been nominated for several research and enterprise awards in Sweden and he has worked as a senior scientist and biogas specialist, leading both academic research projects and industrial product development projects since 2004. In addition to the scientific background, Dr Liu has nearly 20 years’ experience of business development in the pharmaceutical, environmental biotechnology and biogas industries.

Now, as CEO of Bioprocess Control, Dr Liu and his colleagues are helping businesses optimise biogas production processes through the provision of smart laboratory instruments for anaerobic fermentation analysis.

Founded in 2006, Bioprocess Control has swiftly become a market leader in the provision of precision instruments to customers in the biogas and biotechnology fields. “Over the past 13 years, we’ve invested in innovation and development of smart instruments for both biogas research and commercial applications,” explains Dr Liu.

Today, they have clients in over 60 countries around the world – and that number is growing steadily, including clients from over a thousand organisations in both the academic and industrial/commercial sectors.

“More than 400 scientific publication references of experimental studies conducted using our smart analytical instruments are shown in a simple statistical analysis of the scientific database www.sciencedirect.com alone,” observes Dr Liu. “References which pertain solely to our academic clients, we also have many industrial clients in the EU, the United States and East Asia.”

The company has gone through an interesting journey from its initial technology development phase (2006-2008) to mainly serving the biogas research market (2009-2016). As Dr Liu explains, “the challenge has been to develop stable, efficient and sustainable anaerobic digestion and wastewater treatment operations.”

Their efforts have been worthwhile for their smart analytical instruments provide clients with more frequent and higher quality data on which they can make more accurate and informed business decisions which drive greater efficiencies. So it is no surprise that during their early establishment phase, Bioprocess Control received several national and international innovation and business awards.

Today, Bioprocess Control’s portfolio including their flagship products, the Automatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS) which has become the preferred analytical instrument for conducting various anaerobic batch fermentation tests, as well as Gas Endeavour a novel analytical platform for bacteria respiration analysis and biological batch fermentation assays in both anaerobic and aerobic conditions.

Providing a plethora of benefits, these automated analytical devices galvanise efficient, cost-effective operations, due to the reduction in time and labour. Extremely user-friendly and accessible remotely, the data can be reached whenever it is required. Moreover, these automated analytical devices provide standardised measurements, data and reports, delivering clear, comparable information on which evidence-based decisions can be made.

Having built on their success, Bioprocess Control now serves multiple biotechnology industrial sectors producing smart instruments for environmental analysis and biodegradable material analysis too.

Speaking of the service Bioprocess Control provides for its customers, Dr Liu observes: “we provide more than an analytical tool, transferring know how too and with the value we add through our expertise and process related analysis, we can play a critical role in planning and operating biogas plants with stability and efficiency.

“Our technical products are underpinned by our expert team who are friendly, approachable and have a genuine desire to help. Their professional backgrounds and direct involvement with the products mean they can always address customers’ enquiries, their commitment and expertise go far beyond a typical business exchange.”

“Bioprocess Control has an international team who are committed to delivering quality products and services. Our team provides technical support covering product enquiries, questions, maintenance and product applications.

“It is our ambition to make sure that our instruments can be your tools for more efficient, reliable and high-quality research and analysis, leading to significant reductions in time and labour and more efficient utilisation of manpower resources.

“The bioprocess industry is still relatively young, but growing steadily and there is much the industry can learn about feedstock analysis and biological performance in order to improve the operational efficiency of biogas plants.”

www.bioprocesscontrol.com