Patent ID: 8877818

Claim:
A method of reducing a number of viable microorganisms in a flow path of a microfluidic device, comprising: a) flowing an amount of an antimicrobial composition within said flow path, wherein said antimicrobial composition includes: i. an antimicrobially active agent of an alcohol between about 10% and about 55% by volume selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, N-propanol, isopropanol, 2-butanol, n-butanol and isobutanol, and a ketone between about 2% and about 35% by volume selected from the group consisting of acetone, 2-butanone, cyclohexanone, 2-pentanone, 3-pentanone, 2-hexanone, 3-hexanone, methyl isobutyl ketone, cyclobutanone, and cyclopentanone, said alcohol and said ketone being the only effective antimicrobially active components in said antimicrobial composition; and ii. an inactive agent comprising water, wherein said alcohol and said ketone remain miscible in said water; and b) contacting said viable microorganisms in said flow path of said microfluidic device with said antimicrobial composition; and c) killing viable microorganisms in said flow path by greater than a 2-log 10 order within a time period of fifteen minutes of contacting said viable microorganisms with said antimicrobial composition.