Viable and Non-Viable Particle Count

In the early days of lab work, counting particles was a big enough deal. Over time, however, scientists and others working on these counts realized that differentiation mattered. It is important to be able to separate and perform a viable and non-viable particle count. Why? Let’s discuss.

What Is a Particle Count?

Particles are found everywhere. Typically, we discuss particles when it comes to having to count the number of particles found in a substance or space. Particles are most commonly referred to as “specks” or small segments of matter. A particle is a small portion that is discrete from the matter that surrounds it.

In science, we count particles to understand how the air or substance might be contaminated.

Think of metal particles in oil, toxins in the air, chemicals in water, and even mismatching metal particles inside of metal.

In each of these situations, particles contaminate a space that can be damaging to that space and to what takes place there, or both.

Toxins in the air in a clean room can interfere with the manufacture of equipment headed into space. Once in space, those contaminants can infect other atmospheres or lead to the breakdown of the equipment. It’s true, something as small as a microbe could destroy life on another planet or ruin equipment in space. The results could be catastrophic.

Metal in engine oil or lubricant can cause the wearing down of machinery overtime and lead to malfunctions and even explosions.

Water with unwanted particles can cause widespread illness and even death.

Thus, science and engineering have long had a vested interest in particle counts.

So, what is the difference between viable and non-viable particle counts?

What Is a Viable Particle Count?

A viable particle count is one that seeks living organisms.

Back to those contaminants in the air or water, a viable particle count would be searching for bacteria, viruses, mold, mildew or anything else that could continue to grow, spread, and thrive.

For example, if you need a clean room to manufacture equipment headed into space or to another planet, microscopic bacteria that enters that equipment could grow over time and destroy living organisms in space. It could also lead to a mold or mildew growth that would wear down the equipment while it is in space.

In medicine, laboratory equipment seeks viable particle counts when testing urine, uterine health, and other body fluids. Doctors want to know if there are any foreign invaders that need to be fought off with antibiotics or other treatments.

A viable particle count can be performed in many ways, either through the examination of blood or other body fluids under a microscope or by sitting a stationary or mobile particle counter in a clean room with lasers to examine the air as it enters the machine, for example.

What Is a Non-Viable Particle Count?

A non-viable particle count, in contrast, takes a count of non-living objects in the air or in another substance.

An example of a non-viable particle count would be those small metal shavings found in engine oil or a foreign metal inside of another metal. You may even find dust particles, skin cells, and other non-living debris in the air or in the water that you want to clean out before proceeding.

After all, we cannot have humans drinking an excess of metal in their water, just to name one problem.

As you can see, non-viable particle counts are just as critical to perform as viable particle counts.

Why Does the Difference Matter?

Since both types of particle counts matter, why does the difference matter? Well, it doesn’t matter in terms of which one is better or worse.

Instead, the difference matters in terms of knowing what you are looking for and being able to find it.

In science, we want to be as precise as possible, and if we are looking for living organisms, we want to be able to identify them. When we are seeking non-living debris, we want to understand what we are seeing.

While it may be easy to simply pick out particles in matter, we need to be able to recognize when we are dealing with living versus non-living particles, so we understand the nature of any potential threat.

For example, in one type of clean room, a bit of dead skin cells or dust might be perfectly acceptable whereas mold or mildew would not.

In another instance, a few particles of metal in another type of metal may be acceptable whereas it would not be acceptable in engine oil.

It is important to the process of particle counting to be able to distinguish viable from non-viable, so we can move forward from there to examine exactly what types of particles we have and figure out how to remedy the situation.

Precision is everything.

Oculyze Offers a Solution both for Viable and Non-Viable particle counting

Fortunately, where human error commonly interferes with attempts to make the distinctions between viable and non-viable particles, artificial intelligence is here to help.

The Image Analysis software designed by Oculyze can pick up both viable and non-viable particles and identify specific particles within various substances. Our software can be easily and quickly customized to virtually any industry to pick out virtually any type of particle.

Then all you have to do is capture an image of your sample and upload it to the Oculyze app. From there, all worry over human error can be released, and you can count on the Oculyze system to make an accurate identification and count for you.

All that is left after that is to track your data and remedy the situation.

While we certainly still need humans in the lab performing essential work, solutions like Oculyze’s image analysis software can now take away the problems of human error and let humans utilize their time and energy on tasks that demand human attention.

Go to our list of products to check out our fully developed applications, such as the yeast cell counters for breweries, wineries and bioethanol producers or our automated colony counter. Or check out our Image Analysis Platform for more use cases we’re currently working on and details on our offer. And if you need a custom solution for optimizing any other process, contact us and we’ll be happy to find out the details of your specific needs and find together the best way to attend to them.