Our Products
Are biological imbalances keeping you awake at night?
Wish you had earlier, real-time insight into your wastewater’s metabolic activity so you could adjust operational processes before it’s too late?
Want an inexpensive, no-touch monitoring solution that does all this and saves you money and energy in the process?
Then you’ve come to the right place. Think of our sensor platform as a “heart rate monitor for biology” that uniquely provides minute-by-minute snapshots of the treatability of your water or wastewater. Our robust microbial fuel cell-based sensors drop into the most challenging situations and for months without maintenance or cleaning required, highlight microbial activity variations, organic matter degradation, and process upsets which can guide your operational decisions for better treatment outcomes. What’s so unique about our sensors is that the same biofouling that makes other sensors fail in these challenging situations is what makes SENTRY sensors work so well.
Platform Components
Our end-to-end biological activity and water monitoring platform primarily consists of our patented bio-electrode Sensor, our Control Panel, and our supporting web-based management and alerting software.
Bio-electrode Sensor
Our bio-electrode sensors (BES) allow you to put your finger on the pulse of the varying metabolic activity of a microbial community. Simply put, they monitor biological activity in water and wastewater streams by measuring how many electrons are generated by the bacterial organisms pre-loaded on each shipped sensor.
After one to three days to acclimate to their environment and once a robust biofilm is established, a bioelectric current passed through the installed sensor enables it to measure electron transfer. This value is displayed on an online dashboard, updated every 60 seconds. Typically, shock loads cause a drop in activity, while increased organics accelerate metabolic activity, producing a significant spike in respiration and electrons.
BES-based monitoring like this provides novel, real-time insight into biological treatment rates and efficiencies, and rapid insights into water quality characteristics. The bottom line is treatment plants of any sort run on happy, healthy biomass. It’s the key to effective, resilient treatment and processing but traditional monitoring tools are only guessing at how water and wastewater is impacted by biology.
Control Panel
This easy-to-install box houses power and communications supporting up to four connected SENTRY bio-electrode sensors.
Custom Web Dashboard
Our supporting online dashboard works across all Internet-connected devices and allows you to easily monitor real-time performance of resident microbiology, receive customized early warning alarms for system imbalances and toxic events, log these events, and share data remotely. Real-time SENTRY data is also sent to on-site SCADA systems.
Installation Options
Our bio-electrode sensor system can be installed and start collecting data in as little as 30 minutes thanks to our plug-and-play approach that plugs into a standard outlet and begins wirelessly transmitting data to our web dashboard. Additionally, the system is equipped with analog, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity options that ensure data access regardless of the installation location.
The sensors themselves can be installed in both drop-in and in-line locations and can withstand the most challenging environments since the same biofouling that makes other sensors fail is what makes SENTRY sensors work so well.
Drop-in Installation
SENTRY™ can be added to existing tanks and systems. Custom mounting solutions can be provided for each install location and environment if required.
In-line Installation
The in-line sensors are installed and connected through a 1.5” NPT fitting into a pipe with at least 3” diameter. Typical installation for a single sensor is in the recirculation line of the anaerobic tank, but if sequential tanks are present - for hydrolysis, acidogenesis etc. – a probe installation in each tank is recommended.