Left: ATP Test kit supplies; Center: PhotonMaster luminometer for ATP luminometry; Right: GeneCount E-32 apparatus for qPCR (Images courtesy of LuminUltra Technologies, Ltd., Fredericton, NB, Canada).

New Publication

The relationship between microbial population ATP and quantitative PCR bioburdens in diesel fuel microcosms (Access Microbiology 2024;6:000695.v4) was published last month. I’ll start this post by thanking my co-authors Dr. Jordan Schmidt and Ms. Danika Nicoletti,…

The Challenge
At this year’s STLE Annual Meeting I presented a paper titled: “The continued importance of antimicrobial pesticides for controlling microbial contamination in industrial process fluids and systems.” Subsequently, the editors of Lube Magazine (https://www.lube-media.com/) invited me to write an article on the topic. That article – available from the Lube Media website only to Lube Magazine subscribers – was published in Lube Magazine, Issue 181, June 2024. …

Left Image – microbiologically influenced corrosion of petroleum pipeline; Right Image – industrial scale fermentation.

Introduction
In a recent book chapter (Noha M. Sorour, et al. 2017. Chapter 3 – Microbial Biosynthesis of Health-Promoting Food Ingredients, In: Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu, Alina Maria Holban, Eds, In Handbook of Food Bioengineering, Food Biosynthesis, pp: 25-54, Academic Press, New York, ISBN 9780128113721,…

Penicillium citrinum – a common fungal contaminant from water-miscible metalworking fluids. Source: penicillium-citrinum-890c723a-deef-4dea-b2db-de048c4df2a-resize-750.jpg (600×806) (alchetron.com)

Introduction
In my September 2023 post, I provided an overview of bacteria the biological domain that includes millions of taxa that share both genetic similarities and an absence of visible internal structures. After a three-month hiatus, I’ll now provide a similar overview of…

A rod-shaped, polarly flagellated bacterium.Source: https://factrepublic.com/facts/33765/

Introduction

Now that I’ve provided an overview of the characteristics of all life, I’ll describe the most common types of organisms that contaminate industrial process fluid systems – i.e., oilfield injected and produced waters, fuel-associated waters, heat exchange systems, and countless other systems in which fluids are contained of through which they flow. Historically, the two…