Detection of Biological Contamination

In various branches of technology or production contamination leads to loss of functionality of the produced items (i.e. chips) and so to loss of productivity and in the end to loss of money. The relevant and dangerous contamination for the products or the process can be either of biological or non biological origin. The appearance of biological contamination is sometimes dependent on the presence of non biological (particle) contamination. Biological contamination again can either be classified into living or dead contamination. Dependent on the considered product these types of contamination cause different effects to the production. Living biological contamination can cause change of surface or substance through enzymatic reactions. Even dead biological material (such as cell components of microorganisms) can cause allergic or even toxic effects. This is not only harmful to the operator working in the production but also to the product. In the case of pharmaceutical products these c ontamination can even result in the loss of a whole charge of medicaments. The succeeding demand of the industry is not only a demand for an effective and efficient detection of biological contamination but also a demand for a method which allows the complete and reliable cleaning or sterilization of these contamination. The Fraunhofer IPA and the Fraunhofer IGB, Stuttgart, Germany, conduct research which is dealing with the described problems. Besides the demonstration of some of the established methods for the handling of biological contamination in production processes the presented study will especially relate to new ways of dealing with biological contamination. Main attention is given to the aspect of detection and avoidance of biological contamination.