US Patent Issued to ECOLAB USA on Nov. 25 for "Method for the rapid detection of bacterial spores in an industrial process" (Illinois Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,480,149, issued on Nov. 25, was assigned to ECOLAB USA INC. (St. Paul, Minn.).

"Method for the rapid detection of bacterial spores in an industrial process" was invented by Liliya Lund (Des Plaines, Ill.) and Laura Rice (St. Charles, Ill.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for detecting the presence of bacterial spores is described by measuring microbial metabolic activity over time. Spores are distinguished from vegetative cells and other microorganisms by detecting a burst of metabolic activity indicating germination of spores. This method may be used to detect bacterial spores in a commercial process system, such as a papermaking...