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Analytical tool preferred by scientists for biogas research

AMPTS® II

- the most reliable automated instrument for BMP, SMA and RGP assays

The Automatic Methane Potential Test System (AMPTS®) II has become the research-standard analytical tool for anaerobic batch fermentation testing.

Automated, fully integrated and with easy access to sampling, analysis, recording and report generation, AMPTS® II can house 15 glass reactors for tests. These include biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests, anaerobic biodegradability studies, specific methanogenic activity (SMA) assays and residual gas potential (RGP) analyses on digested slurry.

AMPTS® II lets you determine the optimal retention time and mix of substrates for co-digestion, screen proper pre-treatment methods and evaluate the need for additives.

Article no: 01-0000-02

Automatic Biomethane Potential (BMP) Analyzer

AMPTS® II offers you:

  • Highly precise and accurate data
  • Significant reduction in time consumption and labour requirement
  • Standardised measurement procedures, data interpretations and reports
  • User-friendly operation with remote access

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Automatic Methane Potential Test System Gas Detection Unit

Get highly precise and accurate data​

AMPTS® II gives you a better understanding of the dynamic degradation behaviour of a specific substrate. It satisfies the highest demands for data accuracy and precision for various anaerobic batch fermentation tests.

Reduce labour and skill demands

Automating analytical procedures reduces labour and skill requirements for carrying out methane potential tests compared to traditional methods.

Automatic Methane Potential Test System Gas Volume Measuring Device front
AMPTS II Low Gas Flow Measuring Device

Outstanding real-time performance

The multi-channel analyser, consisting of 15 reactors and gas volume meters as well as a built-in data acquisition system, enables real-time investigation of a large number of samples.

Real-time temperature and pressure compensation minimise the impact of measurement conditions and standardise data presentation.

Incubator with 15 batch reactors

Standardise and compare results from any lab – anywhere

AMPTS® II gives easy, instant access to ongoing experiments and reports from a remote location, saving lots of time and effort. It allows you to standardise measurement procedures, data interpretation and reports, and normalise data (i.e., 0 ˚C, 1 atm and dry conditions).

CO2 absorption unit

Automatically removes gas overestimation

Methane gas overestimation arises from flushing the system with an inert gas, such as nitrogen. Biogas produced from the anaerobic fermentation will push the remaining inert gas out from the reactor headspace and the inert gas can mistakenly be counted as methane gas. This means a possible overestimation of methane gas production by as much as 20–30 percent depending upon the total volume of gas production and headspace volume of the test vial. AMPTS® II calculates and removes this overestimation, providing for more accurate and reliable data.

Software for automatic test control

Stable, reliable operation

AMPTS® II software runs on an embedded ARM CPU to give unmatched stability, data protection and minimum downtime. The AMPTS® web-based software application makes setting up and monitoring experiments as easy as possible.

Software for automatic experiment setup

Total control throughout the experiment

Get optimal control of all reactors and batch experiments at all times with a simple click of a virtual button from the software user interface.

Software for online data monitoring

Monitor from your smartphone or tablet

AMPTS® II uses standard TCP/IP protocols and can easily be added to an internal network, and secured by a user-definable password. This enables monitoring through any smartphone or tablet. The analytical capacity can be easily expended by connecting multiple instruments using a network switch. With this feature, each AMPTS® II can be operated as stand-alone device or connected in parallel depending on your needs.

AMPTS® II Image Gallery

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AMPTS II full system
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AMPTS II incubator with 15 batch reactors
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500 ml reactor with the agitation system
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CO2 absorption unit including 15 bottles
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AMPTS II gas flow and volume measuring device
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AMPTS II detection unit with 15 channels
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AMPTS II backside of the detection unit
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AMPTS II software-control page

AMPTS® has been on the market since 2009. It has become the preferred analytical instrument for conducting BMP and other anaerobic batch fermentation tests in the biogas sector. Our statistics show a continuous growth of scientific publications utilising AMPTS® series. By the end of 2019, we have identified more than 600 scientific publications in English using data from AMPTS® series and plenty more in other languages. In recent years, we have also seen an increasing number of standards and laboratory protocols using AMPTS® II as the standard apparatus including the German VDI 4630, the SMA test protocol, the sludge activity test and standard protocol for determination of biohydrogen potential.

During 2017 and 2018, BPC Instruments participated in two international inter-laboratory studies that included over 40 laboratories from 14 countries in Europe. Result from both inter-laboratory studies was presented publically at a pre-conference meeting during the IWA Anaerobic Digestion Congress in Delft 2019 and is also available now in the article “Improving inter-laboratory reproducibility in measurement of biochemical methane potential (BMP)”, AMPTS® II was recognised as the most trustable and reliable automated instruments for BMP analysis. The precision of measurement and data calculations have been validated with the highest quality and standards by scientists in international inter-laboratory BMP studies.

Dr. Jing Liu

CEO, BPC INSTRUMENTS
(former Bioprocess Control)

Customer reviews

Reference

Online course for wastewater treatment

On-line course for “Experimental methods in wastewater treatment“ produced by TU Delft (The Netherlands)

Authors: Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht, Per HalkJær Nielsen, Carlos M. Lopez-Vazquez and Damir Brdjanovic

Publisher: IWA Publishing

AMPTS® II is used as the recommended experimental platform to demonstrate the execution of the biomethane potential (BMP) and specific methanogenic activity (SMA) analyses.

Read more
Online courses on biomethane potential and specific methanogenic activity tests by AMPTS
Reference

Scientific reference on sludge activity test

Article title: “Determination of sludge activity using automated biomethane potential test equipment”

Author: Associate Prof. Bernadette McCabe

National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture, University Southern Queensland (Australia)

40th Annual WIOA, Queensland Water Industry Operations Conference and Exhibition (2015)

The paper provides an overview of the various methods that exist and an insight into sludge activity analysis using AMPTS® and its application in determining sludge activity treating high strength abattoir wastewater.

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Determination of sludge activity by biomethane potential test equipment
Reference

German norm for BMP test

VDI 4630 (2016-11): Fermentation of organic materials – characterization of the substrate, sampling, collection of material data, fermentation tests: batch fermentation tests and continuous fermentation tests.

Publisher: The Association of German Engineers 

The VDI 4630 standard provides rules and specifications for tests to determine the biogas output of organic materials which serve the interpretation and operational optimisation of biogas plants. Thus, it gives comprehensive and practice relevant support for the determination of the biogas orientation of organic materials. AMPTS® is recommended as the only automated test apparatus for biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests based on the batch test procedures in this standard.

Read more
German VDI 4630 international standard on BMP tests
Reference

Scientific reference for BMP test

Article title: “Improving inter-laboratory reproducibility in measurement of biochemical methane potential (BMP)”

Authors: S. D. Hafner, H. F. de Laclos, K. Koch, C. Holliger, Water (2020) 12, 1752

Result from two international inter-laboratory studies that include over 40 laboratories from 14 countries in Europe demonstrates AMPTS® II is recognised as the most trustable and reliable automated instruments for biomethane potential (BMP) analysis.

Read more
Inter-laboratory Reproducibility of BMP

What People Say

During my studies, I earned some money for reading-off the eudiometer, as BMP tests were conducted by simple apparatus with high human-resource allocation. Investing in an AMPTS II system is indeed a substantial cost factor in the beginning, but it will easy pay-off when considering the savings in manpower and the higher quality and resolution of the obtained data. I can strongly recommend the AMPTS II to everybody interested in a reliable workhorse.

DR.-ING. KONRAD KOCH
Department of Civil, Geo and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Germany

We use AMPTS II for both sales process and technical process optimization. The biomethane potential test performed with AMPTS II can provide useful data to demonstrate benefits of Cambi thermal hydrolysis technology for sludge pre-treatment before anaerobic digestion. This allows our clients to evaluate the possible return of investment on implementation of Cambi thermal hydrolysis treatment in wastewater treatment plants.

MR. STEFAN SANDBACKA
Vice President of Business Development at Cambi Group

University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands), actually I have a presentation at the EUBCE in Stockholm where I will be presenting the talking about balancing the supply & demand of renewable Energy. Our AMPTS II has played a big part in providing us with a lot of reliable data…

DR. GERT HOFSTEDE
Lecture at ALIFE- Research Centre Renewable Energy - ILST, Hanze University Groningen, The Netherlands

…the automation of the test minimises human errors, makes data collection more frequent than manual methods, and reduces operator time allowing more time for performing alternate tasks.

ASSOCIATE PROF. BERNADETTE MCCABE
University of Southern Queensland, Australia

…it saves time by enabling quick and automatic batch experiments with very little manual labour, and that it is “student proof”, because the instrument does not require long experience or training before you start using it.

MR. AURELIEN PERRAULT
Project Manager, Sludge & Energy Innovation, Thames Water, UK

…the AMPTS II significantly reduces labour demands and enables our students to more efficiently utilize time during class. The setup of the AMPTS II system is easy to follow and it’s a powerful tool for demonstrating and teaching anaerobic digestion processes in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

DR. XUNDONG LIU
Tsinghua-SUEZ Environnement Environmental Science and Engineering Experiment and Practice Educational Laboratory, China

AMPTS helped us minimising the differences in laboratory skills between different researchers by following the same procedure for BMP testing in which manual handling is minimised, while a huge number of data points are gathered… By using AMPTS apparatus we can achieve reproducible results even with students who perform the test for the first time. We now include the AMPTS as a standardised test in our regular curriculum practical work.

PROF. JULES VAN LIER
Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

…the AMPTS II is the key piece of equipment for Digester Doc, as this equipment is used in determining current and potential energy values as well as in other troubleshooting activities. Digester Doc’s clients get help to identify the most suitable bacterial or mineral innoculants and feedstocks wisely, and potentially get at least 25% additional energy values out of their facilities. One of our many success stories is New Energy One, LLC in Idaho, where they were able to double production in just three months due to the AMPTS II usage.

MR. WILL CHARLTON
President, Digester Doc, USA

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Brochure

AMPTS® II

Learn more about AMPTS® II.
Download
Manual

Operation and Maintenance Manual

AMPTS® II & AMPTS® II Light
Download

Tech Specifications

Automatic Methane Potential Test System_Detection unit
jerkerstigsson

Software & System

  • Software application specially designed for biochemcial methane potential and other anaerobic batch fermentation tests
  • Web-based software running on an embedded server
  • Online real-time gas flow and volume display
  • Automatic real-time pressure and temperature compensation
  • Real-time gas flow and volume normalisation
  • Algorithm to avoid overestimation of gas flow and volume that may be introduced by flush gas during experiment setup
  • Possibility of multiplexing, allowing for simultaneous batch analysis at different startup times
  • User-friendly guidelines for experiment setup
  • On-line system logger for operational diagnosis

Power supply: 12V DC / 5A (Flow cell array and DAQ unit); 24V DC /2.7A (mechanical agitation)

Usage: indoor

 

For more information, see the user manual.
jerkerstigsson

Flow cell array and DAQ unit

Working principle: liquid displacement and buoyancy. Up to 15 cells running in parallel with built-in pressure and temperature sensor
Measurement resolution: 9 ml
Detection capacity: up to 900 l cumulative gas for each batch test
Measuring range: 1 to 6000 ml/h for 9 ml flow cell (integrated data acquisition)
Dimension: 51 x 44 x 18 cm
Housing: plastic
Measuring precision: CV ≤ 1%

Article no: 01-0301-02

CO2 Absorption Unit
jerkerstigsson

Ex-situ carbon dioxide absorption unit

Carbon dioxide trap bottles: 15
Volume of carbon dioxide trap bottles: 100 ml
Dimension of unit: 44 x 30 x 6 cm
Absorption liquid: 3 M NaOH with pH indicator, 80 ml per bottle (not included)
Absorption efficiency: >98%

Please refer to the accessories section for individual article number of components in the carbon dioxide absorption unit.

Incubator with 15 batch reactors
jerkerstigsson

Sample incubation unit

Maximum number of reactors per system: 15
Reactor material: glass
Standard reactor volume: 500 ml
Dimension of unit: 59 x 34 x 28 cm
Temperature control: up to 95 °C (203 °F) (precision of 0.2 °C)
Mixing of reactors: Multifunctional agitation system with brushless DC motors for long-life operation. Remote speed and on/off control via AMPTS® II software control interface. Manually adjustable direction and time interval, as well as timer function to set time periods for reversal. Modular design for low maintenance. Rotating speed range: 10-200 rpm.

Please refer to the accessories section for individual article number of components in the sample incubation unit.

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