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High Throughput Quality Control for Bottled Water
Simplify Your Water Testing - Efficient Solutions by Sartorius
High standards. High throughput. Consumers and legislation are demanding ever-increasing levels of safety and quality for bottled water. Your challenge is ensuring cost-effective, efficient and contamination-free operation from factory to shelf to meet the growing demand for the world’s most popular drink.
Smart, ready-to-use Quality Control systems by Sartorius provide all you need to meet these requirements. Quick and convenient– for the purest water quality.
Process Flow Chart for Your Bottled Water Process*
Discover the different steps in the bottled water manufacturing workflow and click on the icon „+“ to get to know the variety of applications and solutions Sartorius offers for testing your water bottling process.

*This workflow may not exactly represent your bottled water workflow however generalizes the QC checkpoints
Applications in Your Quality Control (QC) and Our Product Solutions
You are committed to creating high-quality bottled-water with consistent look, smell, feel and flavor from one bottle to the next. We are committed to providing you the products you need to ensure your bottled water´s taste, aroma and quality. For the quality control in your bottled water processing, we have solutions for the following applications:
Microbiological Water Testing
Your bottled water must be of an appropriate purity standard for drinking water and microbial contamination can occur at your water’s source or during the treatment and bottling process. Therefore, regular, routine testing of process piping, and tubing/gaskets, as well as source water from external springs and wells, is crucial for maintaining your water’s quality and safety.
What to test?
- For microbial quality control, it is recommended to test for coliform bacteria (specifically E. coli), as well as bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococci are recommended for microbial quality control.
- Since throughput can be challenging when testing your bottled water, Sartorius offers products designed for speed and convenience, saving your microbiologists valuable time when testing.
e.motion Dispenser Membrane filters
Optimize water testing workflows and save time. Dispense filters automatically eliminating the need for manual operation. Your benefits include:
- Easy colony counting due to clear colony morphology and distinct grid lines.
- High speed water sample filtration.
- Avoid re-loading during a shift with 250 filters per pack.
Microsart® e.motion Dispenser
Automatically dispense membrane filters by touch of a button, hands-free motion detection or a foot switch to minimize risk of secondary contamination. Your benefits include:
- Space-saving small footprint.
- Easy to clean, lightweight and robust.
- Available with long-life battery option.
Microsart® Manifold
Facilitate your routine microbiological water testing by selecting the size of the manifold (1, 2 3 and 6 branch). Compatible with all Sartorius reusable and single use funnels and filtration unts. Your benefits include:
- Robust, full stainless steel material
- Easy assembly without tools
- Easy to clean and operate
New Video: Microsart® Manifolds: Adaptable to Your Needs - Watch Now
Microsart® e.jet pump
Liquid transfer pump connects to Microsart® Manifold as the vacuum source for filtration of water samples. Your benefits include:
- Small footprint
- Adapt directly to the manifold, no need for a suction flask
- Use Quick connectors to attach tubing and manifolds
Biosart® 250 Funnel
Reusable 250 ml funnel for use with a membrane filter on the Microsart® Manifold. Your benefits include:
- Can be autoclaved multiple times.
- Large inner diameter ensures high flow rate.
- Conical shape design ensures no liquid remains in the funnel.
Microsart® 250 Funnel
Single use 250 ml funnel for use with a membrane filter on the Microsart® Manifold. Your benefits include:
- Save time compared to reusable funnels.
- Easy click fit connection.
- No need to autoclave
Biosart® 100 Monitors
Ready-to-use sterile filtration unit combines a 100 ml funnel, lid, filter base, gridded membrane filter and a cellulose pad in one unit. After filtration, simply add nutrient media and remove the funnel to convert the monitor into a petri dish, eliminating the need to manipulate the membrane. Your benefits include:
- All-in-one design saves time and handling steps.
- Minimize the risk of secondary contamination.
- Different ampoule media types available for water testing.
Biosart® 100 Nutrient Media
Sterile ready-to-use liquid media in 2.5ml ampoules. For use with Biosart® Monitors or Cellulose Pads in Petri dishes. Your benefits include:
- Eliminates time required to prepare media.
- Saves space in the laboratory refrigerator.
- Different ampoule media types available for water testing.
Microsart@filter
Ready-to-use sterile filtration unit in 100 or 250ml sizes. Combine a funnel, filter base and gridded membrane filter in one unit. Your benefits include:
- Reduces time and handling as autoclaving of funnels and base is eliminated.
- High speed sample filtration.
- Reliable results as no liquid remains after filtration.
Nutrient Pad Sets (NPS)
As alternative to agar plates, NPS are dehydrated media pads in petri dishes, packed in a double layer aluminum protective bag. Available with suitable filters for economical, time-saving microbiological quality control of water samples. Your benefits include:
- Eliminate time-consuming, labor-intensive culture media preparation.
- Eliminates need to keep media pads cool during storage or transportation.
- Long, 2 year shelf-life.
- Different NPS media types available for water testing.
Prospenser Plus
Robust design and high-quality materials provide accurate and precise dispensing
- Lightweight and easy to use.
- Excellent chemical resistance and fully autoclavable .
Analytical QC
To safeguard the quality of your bottled water, you have to perform analytical tests, on your source and purified water. To get the best results from your tests you need the best tools for sample preparation, such as pipettes, laboratory balances, syringe filters, filter papers and water purification systems.
What to test?
- Chemicals including minerals, pesticides and compounds
- Sartorius has all the essential products and solutions to make your sample preparation, quick and simple, as well as ensure your water meets current safety regulations, including European Council Directive 98/83/EC of 3rd November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption and US FDA regulations and limits for both chemistry and microbial contaminants under 21 CFR 165.110.
Arium® Mini UV Water Filtration System
Quality control of beverages is essential for consumer safety. The water used for highly sensitive chromatographic analysis such as HPLC, GC-MS, or ICP must always be high quality. Arium® Mini lab water system is a compact ultrapure water system for labs with requirements up to 15 liters per day. The option UV lamp (185/254 nm) removes TOC levels down to < 5 ppb. Key advantages:
- Consistent delivery of high quality ASTM Type 1 water increases sensitivity of analytical results and minimizes chemical ion interference.
- Comprehensive services include installation and preventative maintenance for consistent and reliable water quality.
Filter papers
Many analytical QC tests in brewery labs require a filtration step prior to the testing procedure to pre-process the sample. Circular, pleated filter papers of different grades are placed into a funnel leading to a receptacle and are used to remove turbidity from wort, to remove yeast cells after fermentation and to reduce CO² or degas the sample prior to tests such as density measurement or specific gravity.
The filter papers fitting best into your beer process are these types:
- Filter paper grade 292a : FT-4-215-320
- Filter paper grade 1289: FT-4-207-320
- Filter paper grade 6: FT-4-312-320
- Filter paper grade 4b: FT-4-309-320
Cubis®️ II Premium Laboratory Balance
Precision Balances offer the highest performance for breweries. Fully configurable hardware and software ensure connectivity, compliance and confidence in results.
- Avoid sampling errors with the largest 7“ color display with touch, scroll and swipe functionalities; graphic guided procedures/applications are built-in and dozens of QApp Packages are available including statistics, averaging, check weighing with counter and 70 others.
- Status Center provides system info, notifications, tasks, and alerts. Advanced user management includes centralized password support, high security configuration and login rules with LDAP capabilities.
- Unique, built-in, interactive motorized auto-levelling function up to 8 kg.
- Easy to clean rounded edges and chemical resistance.
Quintix® Lab Balance
Unsurpassed weighing technology for beverage producers available in Analytical and Precision Balances.
- Optimized performance directly out-of-the-box with Start Assistant, SmartTouch and intuitive applications.
- Built-in applications include statistics, totalizing, mixing and density determination; menu lock function available to avoid configuration changes.
- Easy to clean with a disposable cover that has high chemical resistance.
Prospenser and Prospenser Plus
Robust design and high-quality materials provide accurate and precise dispensing
- Lightweight and easy to use.
- Excellent chemical resistance and fully autoclavable.
Tacta® Pipette
- Superb comfort and unparalleled reliability ensures minimal variation for beverage producers.
- Advanced ergonomics including soft tip attachment and light ejection delivers the best user experience.
- Adjustable to improve pipetting accuracy by accommodating for viscosity or liquid temperature.
- With only three parts to clean, there is a low risk of contamination. Combine with Safe-Cone filters or SafetySpace Filter tips to further increase contamination control and prolong pipette lifetime.
Optifit Tips
- With a perfect fit and seal, Sartorius pipettes deliver the highest possible accuracy and precision for beverage producers. Further improve pipetting performance of viscous liquids with low retention tips.
- Broad volume range and packaging options to suit your application and use.
- Optifit tips meet the highest purity and quality standards.
Minisart® Syringe Filters
- Samples for HPLC, GC-MS, or ICP require proper clarification prior analysis to ensure high sensitivity and accuracy and protect instruments from particle load.
- Minisart® syringe filters are optimized for sample preparation with maximum chemical compatibility to ensure high performance. Minisart® RC is optimized for aqueous liquids, solvents and a wide range of chemicals.
- Minisart® NY Plus syringe filters include a pure quartz glass fiber prefilter optimized for sample prep of particle-laden samples prior to HPLC or GC . The polyamide membrane combines fastest flow with low non-specific binding.
- Minisart® SRP filters are suitable for venting applications and leachable-free clarification for liquids in a pH range of 1 -14. Minisart® PES offers a combination of PES membrane and PP housing and has a higher chemical compatibility than PES in MBS housing.
Claristep®
- Samples for HPLC, GC-MS and ICP require proper clarification prior analysis, however, to ensure high sensitivity and accuracy and protect instruments from particle load.
- The Claristep® Filtration System can process up to eight samples simultaneously without any vacuum source or power supply. The syringeless filter and the simple manual processing enable customers to simplify their sample clarification.
Air Monitoring
HACCP is essential when bottling water and knowing which microorganisms are in present in your production area helps ensures contamination free operation. Contamination can occur during your water treatment and bottle filling process, leading to microbes growing in the water, potentially making it unsafe to drink.
What to test?
- Test ambient air for airborne microorganisms, for example at your filling line and at critical points in your water treatment areas.
- Sartorius provides you with products and solutions to make testing for airborne microorganisms fast, effective, and efficient.
MD8 Airport
A portable device to monitor microbiological air quality in the production area and at the filling line. Your benefits include:
- Battery operated and portable
- Ergonomically designed and easy to clean
- User-friendly prompting with the option of four languages: English, French, German and Spanish
- Flexible options for customized use, including adjustable air throughput and air flow rate
- Storage of last-used parameters, even after automatic shut-off
- Can be calibrated on-site
Check Weighing
Our balances provide a reliable solution to checking the weight of your bottled water. Using the Check Weighing program with defined limits and weighing visual aids means you can accurately control your water content or nominal gross weights more accurately and cost-effectively than you would using balance technology built into your bottling line. You can obtain your results in range of formats and communication ports with Cubis® II (Ethernet, USB and RS232), Quintix® (USB) and Entris® II (USB and RS232), making integration of our balances into your bottling process quick and easy.
Vibrations, airflow, temperature changes can be major challenges in your bottled water production facility, our balances offer quick stabilization times. By using stability filters, the level indicator on the Quintix® and Entris® II or using the levelling warning with Cubis® II (MCA) balances, you’ll maintain a flat, horizontal surface for quick weighing every time.
Features
- Check weight is a function included in our essential weighing applications package that comes with Cubis® II (MCA), Quintix and Entris® II balances.
- Check weight can determine whether a bottled water’s weight falls within a specified tolerance range.
- Print out each measure and change to the next identical bottle/can and get the stats in the end at the touch of a button.
- Weighs safe the different bottle types such as glass and plastic in sizes from 0.3 L up to 5 L
Recommendations, norms, regulations and directives our balances work according to, include:
OIML R 79, R 87 & R138
Directives 76/211/EEC, 2007/45/EC, 2009/34/EC & 75/107/EEC
NIST Handbook 133 and 21-C.F.R. Parts 1, 101, 129 & 165
Cubis®️ II Premium Laboratory Balance
Precision Balances offer the highest performance for beverage producers. Fully configurable hardware and software ensure connectivity, compliance and confidence in results.
- Avoid sampling errors with the largest 7“ color display with touch, scroll and swipe functionalities; graphic guided procedures/applications are built-in and dozens of QApp Packages are available including statistics, averaging, check weighing with counter and 70 others.
- Status Center provides system info, notifications, tasks, and alerts. Advanced user management includes centralized password support, high security configuration and login rules with LDAP capabilities.
- Unique interactive, motorized auto-levelling function up to 8 kg or graphic-interactive guide up to 70 kg. Configurable electronic stabilization filters and lecture speeds for fast response in production areas.
- Easy to clean rounded edges and chemical resistance.
Quintix® Lab Balance
Featuring the highest performing weighing technology available in Precision Balances for beverage producers.
- Best performance right-out-of-the-box by its Start Assistant, SmartTouch and intuitive applications.
- Checkweighing, statistics and peak-hold built-in applications; menu lock function available to avoid configuration changes.
- Easy to clean and high chemical resistance disposable cover.
Entris® II Lab Balance
Unrivalled value and performance in Precision Balances for beverage producers backed by 150 years of German engineering expertise.
- The only Balance in its class with an automatic internal calibration program, 4.3“ color touchscreen or LED touch display and built-in checkweighing application.
- Easy to clean and high chemical resistance polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), stainless steel and glass construction.
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