Marjolein Minne awarded as laureate of the TNAV thesis awards 2017

Every year, the Flanders Water Technology Network TNAV awards young engineers for their promising research for the water industry. Ir. Marjolein Minne was one of the three laureates for her master thesis “Assessment of biofilms in drinking water distribution systems by flow cytometry” (2016-2017). 

At CMET, Marjolein used flow cytometric monitoring as fast and accurate technique to examine the microbial water quality in drinking water distribution systems. She studied biofilm growth on different pipe materials and investigated the relation between biofilm and bulk water under different conditions, in batch and continuous flow. In addition, she examined the behaviour of a typical drinking water pathogen Enterobacter amnigenus and found that its growth was suppressed by the presence of the aquatic microbial community, which is an argument for the concept of “biostable water”.

On the picture, Marjolein is accompanied by her proud promoters Prof. Nico Boon and Prof. Bart De Gusseme (left) and her tutor ir. Benjamin Buysschaert (right). Her research was performed in cooperation with the drinking water utility Pidpa, member of our Resource Recovery Technology consortium R2T.