The Bellaterra campus has been the setting where not only the SINCRO project was presented but also where Sens Solutions develops its sensor and the technology of the biofilm monitoring system.
SINCRO is a project coordinated by EMATSA, a company involved in the management of the integral water cycle, with the participation of the following:
⁃ ADIQUIMA, leading company in the production of disinfectant compounds for water treatment.
⁃ SENS SOLUTIONS, a start-up with extensive experience in the development of monitoring systems and integration with treatment systems.
⁃ GMA, The Autonomous University of Barcelona Environmental Microbiology Group, specialist in biofilm studies.
The SINCRO project tackles the challenge of biofilm monitoring from a new perspective of the use of optical microsensors. No current biofilm monitoring system has such thorough control like the one developed through SINCRO. The thermometric and mechanical duct flow based systems are insensitive and highly susceptible to saline interfaces.
The importance of the SINCRO project cannot be overlooked. Thousands of kilometers of pipes for water distribution, refrigeration and food production are affected by bacterial biofilm formation that not only obstructs water distribution systems but can also generate causes of infections, provoking economical losses and in the worst case human loss as well.
