MDG News and Updates

Throughout a facility tour at MDG you’ll walk past different sizes of the same equipment, one example, specifically of interest to many plant companies, is the 6-foot pilot spray dryer that stares up at a 34-foot electric production spray dryer. Flexibility in spray drying equipment size offers two intentional benefits: affordable trials and high-yield spore production.    What is Spray Drying? MDG’s Pilot Spray Dryer Spray drying is used in markets such as custom fermentation, plant health, animal agriculture, wastewater, I&I, aquaculture, human probiotics, landfill, and bioremediation. This process involves drying liquid droplets into a fine powder. A nozzle that turns a stream of liquid into a fine mist allows for droplets ranging in micron sizes to be achieved and produce fine particles as the water droplets dry. Fine particle sizes are required for applying product through in field spraying applications making it a popular drying method for agriculture products.   Affordable Trials  Field trials are a common step in bringing a new strain or product to market. Field trials require a small amount of high-quality product and bringing a product to market requires high amounts of high-quality product. While that may seem like stating the obvious, few manufacturers are set-up to execute on […]

MDG’s Director of I&I Sales, Justin Howlett, is ready to tackle the Industrial & Institutional market.   What drew you to Microbial Discovery Group (MDG)? In my numerous conversations with Mike King, MDG’s CEO, I enjoyed the vision of the company’s growth as well as the challenge that was ahead in playing a role in getting the company to where it is now and where it will be. I enjoyed the culture that was and is so very important to Mike upon founding the company as well as how much he strives to keep it alive and thriving currently and for the future to come. What does your typical day look like? No day is “typical” in my role! On any given day you will find me intrenched in one of the following activities: working on training materials, interviewing candidates to expand our team, performing customer and industry research to understand what our partners might want from us, and/or discussing what MDG products would be helpful to add-on to our partners’ inventory. What is something at work that you’re passionate about? I enjoy the coaching aspect of my position. I assist my team by streamlining obstacles in our sales process so […]

MDG is excited to announce the OMRI listing for ZymoBac® GRO M50B, our solution for the Plant Health market. You can view ZymoBac® GRO M50B’s certificate here! “MDG is excited to announce that OMRI has reviewed ZymoBac® GRO M50B and has determined that it is Allowed for use in compliance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP)!”  Shannon Losing., Regulatory and Quality Manager of Microbial Discovery Group. What is ZymoBac® GRO? Our ZymoBac® GRO line chosen for its wide arrary of enzyme production to improve plant health and increase yields, and this listing now means that ZymoBac® GRO M50B can be used as a part of the USDA National Organic Program. We are proud that our Bacillus can be a part of organic agriculture, giving farmers a plant health product alternative to traditional materials. The organization that gives these listings is OMRI, the Organic Materials Review Institute. OMRI is a non-profit organization that reviews and lists products that follow the USDA in the National Organic Program. OMRI lists agricultural input products such as nutrients, pesticides, crop treatment, and animal feed additives. What does this listing mean for ZymoBac® GRO M50B users? OMRI informs producers about products that can be used in organic farming operations, making it easy […]

In a story as old as time, a new product comes to market, fails to make an impact, then fizzles out. Now, in talking with our customers, what we have learned is that some of the new “ground-breaking” solutions just end up causing more headaches than they’re worth. So, when the time came to expand our biological product offerings within the wastewater market, we sought to rewrite that story and began the process of developing our Biotifx® platform. Initially, our research and development team became laser focused on creating a top-notch product that would aim to serve a variety of needs for the wastewater community. Just as it’s sometimes hard to upgrade to that new piece of computer software – changing the process can be scary. Removing the fear and risk became the foundation of our Biotifx® program. We saw the importance of spending time outside of the lab to create a complete program that was grounded on what MDG does best: partnerships. PRODUCTS First, let’s quickly talk about our product innovation. It began with asking questions and then many more followed. Simply put: we listened. We heard about the challenges faced by facilities and got to work. Building on […]

When distributors participate in our Biotifx® program, they become armed with the knowledge and confidence they need to support their customers with superior microbial wastewater treatments – even during the winter months. The program includes onsite training, straightforward product application guides and tools, even an on-site technical service rep if/whenever needed. And cool products too. Help Improve Cold Weather Performance Colder temperatures during winter months can result in up to a 50% drop in microbial activity, drastically slowing wastewater treatment. Due to this, a few months prior to winter, our distributors switch their customers’ bacterial treatments to our unique Biotifx®  FRZ strains, which help them maintain efficient system performance and counter seasonal upsets. It alleviates challenges associated with fats, oils, grease (FOG), sludge, odor and hydrogen sulfide and is ideal to use when water temperatures drop below 59°F / 15°C. “Beyond sludge removal, you’ll lessen the typical spring turnover which comes with a large release of hydrogen sulfide when a lagoon flips. This saves on fines and additional maintenance.”                                                                    – MDG Technical Service Applications & Industries Biotifx® FRZ can be […]

Typically, one of the first questions a contract fermentation customer will ask us is how quickly we can get them to economical commercial production. From our years of experience, we commonly find that if the customer can get 2 Billion CFU/ml (2B) in a standard media such as Trypticase Soy Broth (TSB) or Nutrient Broth (NB), we tend to be able to get them to commercial production in 8-12 weeks. However, if the customer is in the 107 or 108 CFU/ml range in this quick test, we know we have a good amount of work ahead of us and it may take a while. Mind you, we have brought many strains with lower than “2B” CFU/ml yield to a point of economic feasibility, but you can bet it increases the production timeline quite a bit. Now, we know the last thing a customer wants to hear is that production yields may delay or even prevent commercialization all together. In order to prevent this, we highly recommend adding a simple 2B TSB screen into your earlier processes. Planning Ahead Right now, many scientists are trying to find the perfect strain for their application. They will spend months if not years screening their Bacillus libraries seeking desired attributes such […]

New Liquid Product for Winter Treatment Microbial Discovery Group (MDG) is excited to announce the launch of a new product for the Wastewater market. MDG formulated a new liquid cold water strain collection system treatment product, called Biotifx® Liquid Max FRZ. It allows you to outsmart the blizzards, sleet, and snow with Bacillus that remain active at low temperatures using scientifically selected strains.  Keeping an automated dose of the Biotifx® Liquid Max FRZ during the cold months helps digest organic sludge, FOG and reduces H2S and odors, delivering consistent doses, frequently, and at scheduled times. What is Biotifx® Liquid Max FRZ: In addition to our cold weather Biotifx® FRZ line, Liquid Max FRZ is formulated with the same cold temperature Bacillus strains. The liquid version will conveniently treat wastewater treatment plants, lagoons, aerated sludge digester, industrial and municipal grease interceptors. Additionally, Liquid Max FRZ treats collection systems such as lift stations, force mains, sewer and gravity lines, or anywhere automation is desired, ideal in water temperatures 50F˚ and below. How does Biotifx® Liquid Max FRZ work: For many microbes, for every 10C˚ reduction in water temperature, reaction rates are cut in half. At these temperatures, the wastewater’s existing microbes don’t multiply and grow much because […]

Microbial Discovery Group (MDG) is growing in many ways! We began making plans to expand and increase custom fermentation capacity as we realized the potential for growth. To do so, we needed to relocate office and laboratory space from our original Franklin facility to an 80,000 ft² facility located in Oak Creek. MDG Oak Creek now houses three laboratories, office space, spray drying and additional blending capabilities, packaging, and warehousing operations. We began this expansion in 2021 by leasing 40,000 ft² at the Oak Creek facility, doubling the powder blending room size. This expansion into MDG Oak Creek increased blending capacity and volume while providing space to add blending, milling and other equipment in the future. In addition, an external structure was built to install a 34-ft spray dryer and pilot spray dryer. Our Plant Health and Growth (PHG) market will benefit from the small micron size of spray-dried culture, as they dissolve faster and can be incorporated into field applicators. Later in 2021, we signed another September-start lease for the second half of the 80,000 ft² Oak Creek facility where we initiated construction, building office space and three new laboratories. The construction of MDG Oak Creek facility was completed […]

Save Your Customers’ Business with Bioaugmentation The food service industry inevitably has problems with fats, oils, and grease (FOG), and being proactive vs. reactive can be the difference between a thriving business and no business at all. It is essential to provide your customers with an effective and reliable FOG solution. This will help to prevent health code violations, drain backups, emergency pump-outs, unnecessary downtime, and ultimately poor customer satisfaction. Clogged Drains, Closed Doors Pumping out FOG from drains or pipes can cause your food service customers to close their doors for 2-5 days. This means a significant loss in income for their business. Flies Shoo Away Business Clogged drains may attract flies to a business, but it doesn’t attract customers. The conditions within a clogged drain meet all the requirements for pesky flies. Once making their way to the problem area, flies can transport unwanted bacteria to other areas of the kitchen. Little Trust Leads to Few Customers Customers notice when businesses unexpectedly close their doors. They can also both see and smell big cleaning trucks pumping out FOG in the back parking lot during the middle of lunch hour. Public information on FOG build-up, foul odors, grease spills, or […]

In the restaurant industry, it is common for under-maintained grease interceptors to produce heavy fats, oils, and grease (FOG). Fats, oils, and grease accumulated within collection systems from residential areas and restaurants are common as well! Managing and maintaining FOG is important for reducing odors for customers and citizens. Fats, oils, and grease that originate from restaurants, residential homes, and food processing facilities are commonly discharged into sewer systems. Picture things like vegetable oil and solid fats, such as lard. They eventually accumulate and can cause blockages in drainage systems, grease traps, and lift stations. Luckily for us (and our customers), FOG and other solids can be effectively broken down, digested, and removed with the use of bioaugmentation products by making the entire population more efficient. Tool #1: Bacillus Produce Enzymes Bacillus can produce a broad array of enzymes including esterase and lipase. These enzymes hydrolyze or break down FOG into smaller molecules for Bacillus and other species of bacteria to use as a source of energy. By making more food available, Bacillus can enhance a native microbial population, which then assists in the further removal of FOG. In addition to esterase and lipase, Bacillus also secretes other classes of enzymes including, proteases, amylase, and more. Why is this important? […]