Visits from abroad

On 11th and 12th February 2010, we received guests from Vivai Battistini, Vitroplant Italia srl, and Microplant laboratories, and the National Reasearch Council IVALSA in Italy. We took the opportunity to present EnbioJet to our guests, and we visited the Vitroflora laboratory to observe EnbioJet in operation and to see plants grown on culture media sterilized in EnbioJet.

See comments on the visit in Poland.

Translation:

Micropropagation and in vitro technologies

Microwave sterilisation: FLOW STERILISER (www.enbiotechnology.com)

New perspectives have opened up for micropropagation laboratories performing sterilisation of culture media on a large commercial scale, and in future maybe for research and didactic laboratories performing small-scale production. Innovation consists of employing a steriliser that uses the energy generated by microwaves to heat and sterilise the medium; this technology has been developed by ENBIO TECHNOLOGY, a young and dynamic company with its seat in Kosakowo near Gdynia (Gdańsk), in Poland. The team of laboratory technicians involved in micropropagation and vividly interested in a new technology visited the manufacturer in its factory, as well as a commercial laboratory called Vitroflora in Łochowo, where it is possible to observe the operation of the ENBIOJET steriliser, that is “the microwave system for media sterilisation,” successfully introduced about two years ago into a production cycle of the laboratory that produces more than 6,000,000 plants annually. The Enbiojet steriliser works with the micropropagation system employing single-use, sterile, plastic cups which are the most frequently used by in vitro culture laboratories in the Northern Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany) that mainly produce ornamental indoor plants. In order to use the potential of the Enbiojet steriliser to the greatest extent, the device should be integrated into a production line equipped with an agar injector preparing liquid medium that uses the pump and appropriate connections to transfer the medium into the Enbiojet device where within just a few seconds the medium is quickly heated and sterilised in the flow at the temperature 132oC, and microwaves are the energy source; later the medium is cooled down and its sterility is maintained, then it is transferred to an injector where it stays for a longer time and its temperature is constant, above the gelling temperature, for a long time. Single-use cups are filled semi-automatically in the injector with a laminar flow. The whole process is controlled by computer software making it possible to control sterilisation parameters using a sophisticated easy to read and handle LCD control panel. During the visit, the originator and contractor of the project, Marek Krajczyński, draw attention to sophistication and a compact design of the Enbiojet device the dimensions of which have been reduced to 180x60x40 cm, and to the fact that is has been equipped with a modern system called Direct Energy Transfer (DET) that transfers energy generated by microwaves directly to the culture medium flowing through a segment of a Teflon tube. Experiments carried out by the manufacturer indicated that the medium heated up to 132oC becomes sterile within 10 seconds without the effect of medium burning and without partial impairment of medium parameters what happens in the case of traditional autoclave sterilisation. Microbiologic validation of sterilisation in the Enbiojet device was performed using the strains of Bacillus subtilis and Geobacillus stearothermophilus and an insignificant degree of contamination (below 0.5%) has been achieved during two years of operation in the commercial laboratory Vitroflora. The DET method offers a 50% time saving during filling cups with the medium as well as a 50-70% energy saving comparing to traditional autoclaves. In addition, as it has already been mentioned above, the advantage of this method is the fact that it eliminates the temperature gradient that is unavoidably formed inside the medium in contemporary autoclaves. The advantages also include lesser consumption of agar, estimated to be at the level lower by 30% as well as excellent balance with regard to the pH factor of the medium what is impossible to achieve in traditional autoclaves. The optimum output of the Enbiojet steriliser is 150 l/h, although the capacity up to 200 l/h is also possible to obtain; it indicates that the steriliser may be used on a large scale, for orders of at least 5 millions plants annually and for the production of sterile medium at the level of at least 100 litres daily. In addition, according to Marek Krajczyński, the advantages associated with using the Enbiojet steriliser are the most evident for the production starting at 300 l of the medium daily and this is the amount making it possible to depreciate the equipment as early as within two production seasons.

Romano Roncasaglia, Carla Benelli

Signatures under photographs, from the top:

1. Sterilisation of the medium and filling single-use cups in the Enbiojet system
2. LCD control panel
3. Mauro Masini, Maurizio Lambardi and Romano Roncasaglia accompanied by Katarzyna Bednarczyk, Sales and Marketing Manager at Enbio Technology