The presence of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) produced by micro-organisms in biological wastewater systems causes many customers headaches and sleepless nights.

In most cases, excessive EPS production is generated by lack of nutrients in the biological systems. The EPS can create serious problems in foam formation, bad settleability, biofilm build up on membranes and inefficient sludge dewatering.

To ensure a targeted follow-up of the EPS concentration in both sludge and water samples, EPAS International developed a spectrophotometric procedure to quantify the EPS concentration.

Thanks to this new method, the engineering department of EPAS International is no longer restricted to observe (excessive) EPS production microscopically, but it can determine an exact concentration.

This way both sludge and water samples can be screened on EPS in order to reduce biofilm formation and clogging issues on MBR and membrane filtration systems.