The Department of Electric and Electronic Engineering recently developed a system to sterilise a fluid using only microwaves. This continuous flow system was designed to be used for the sterilisation of biological growth media but would be just as effective for any fluid. The proof of concept design can be further developed into a commercial product for either large scale continuous process lines or as a small lab appliance that can quickly sterilise any size batch of growth media. The concept of sterilisation can also be applied to other fields such as the food industry in order to sterilise milk or fruit juices. A remarkably interesting application would be where this technology is applied to manufacturing lines where water is used to cool down equipment such as saws or drills. In these situations, the unsterilized water can form biofilms within the water pipes which cause blockages and results in the equipment not being cooled properly. If the water is sterilised before it enters the pipes the biofilms will not form, and the equipment will last longer.
