Respirometer for biodegradability testing

Tampere University of Applied Sciences is inviting tenders for 'Respirometer for biodegradability testing', hereinafter also 'Respirometer'.

The Recycled and Biobased Business Ecosystem Platform project at Tampere University of Applied Sciences in Tampere, Finland is building up a testing environment for biodegradation of recycled biobased materials. For those purposes, we invite tenders for a fully automated multichannel respirometer to study biodegradation according to relevant ISO standards. For future studies, the ability to connect the respirometer to downstream applications such as HPLC equipment or bioreactor is also required. Respirometer is to be used for research, commercial testing service and educational purposes. The respirometer is to meet the following requirements: a gas (O2, CO2,CH4) detection system based on NDIR technology, individual mass flow controllers for each vessel, an automated leak detection with indication, an adjustable thermostatic chamber, an automated real-time data collection and analysis, manuals and software in English, and a CE certification. The respirometer must include all the modules needed to set up the environment for biodegradation measurements and analysis, including e.g. thermostatic chambers, gas sensors, air pumps, flow controllers, magnetic stirrers, vessels, connectors, gaskets, valves, tubes and process control software. Requirements for a computer need to be defined, however, a computer should be excluded from the tender. Within this call tenderers are instructed to give a tender for a respirometer package including 10 to 12 reactors for aerobic soil and compost environment (CO2, O2) and 10 to 12 reactors for aerobic aqueous testing environment. Depending on the funding available, different options could be included in a tender as follows: As an option 1 the tenderers are instructed to offer also an additional enlargement for anearobic testing in soil environment (additional package of 10-12 vessels, gas sensors (CO2, O2, CH4), thermal chamber and other needed equipment). As an option 2 the tenderers are instructed to provide a pricing for annual maintenance after the warranty period. Options must be presented in the tender and will be included in the evaluation, but the contracting authority reserves the right to decide which options will be included in the final contract.

Requirement R5 is changed from: "R5. The respirometer contains a mass flow controller for each reactor." to "R5. The respirometer is capable of measuring the mass flow rate of each reactor. Further details regarding its technical performance can be provided in the documentation referenced in section R17." The procurement criteria incorrectly asked for the number of anaerobic reactors to be entered. This was corrected to ask for the number of aerobic reactors to be entered.