Biotechnology

The soil which has to be treated is stored within three closed treatment fields and sprinkled with purification plant water. In order to achieve the highest decomposition activity of the microorganisms, the air is warmed from 20 to 42 degrees Celsius, at the same time warmed air is forced from below into the soil. Exhaust air is discharged via an activated charcoal filter. After storage and treatment of approx. 8,000 t soil from the refuse dump "Gorenkamp" the contents of the organic groups of materials of HC, PAH, BTX aromatics (not PCB) could be decontaminated within 3 - 4 months of the respective official objective. Expand…

The goal was the development of a high performance bio filter system with a new filter material which is based on textiles. The efficiency of the new system for the cleaning of contaminated exhaust air was examined in a direct comparison of the conventional bio filter and BioFilTex. The BioFilTex had turned out better, because concentration increases as well as an increase of the flow speed were determined.

Due to a small layer thickness and a purposeful flow guidance in the reactor the photo bioreactor according to the airlift loop principle achieves an improved light supply of all cells. Also alga cultures with high cell density can be sufficiently supplied with light by using the »Flashing of the Light Effect«. A large advantage of the newly developed reactor with pneumatic mixing is the very low volumetric energy deposit of approximately 70 W m-3, which remains constant with increasing reactor volume (Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial and Bio Process Engineering – IGB).

The crude gases contain primarily aromatic hydrocarbons such as cresol and phenol. The waste gases are wet in a washing system to ensure the relative humidity of above 95% required by the operation of the bio-filter plant. Using bio beds during the purification process reduced the concentrations of total carbon by approx. 90% and the odor emission by 95%. Specific measurements of phenol and cresol showed that these substances had been almost completely broken down. An additional dedusting plant was required due to the accumulation of mud during the washing process caused by dust from the production. Expand…

Zülpich Papier GmbH, which has been operating under complete effluent free conditions for 25 years, was forced to conside this technology concept because the concentration of odourous compounds in the process water had largely increased during the last few years. To maintain a closed system, an internal anaerobic/aerobic process water treatment plant was installed. A part of the total process water stream is pretreated in an UASB reactor and after aerobic treatment in an aeration tank followed by sand filtration, it is reused as process water. The efficiency of the in-line plant as well as the main improvements on the characteristics of process water, paper and exhaust was controlled in an extensive monitoring program. Within a few weeks after start-up, the in-line process water treatment plant had already reached the forecast efficiency. The organic load of process water (measured as COD) was reduced by 75 percent. The reduction of odourous low molecular fatty acids totals 95 percent. Expand…

The biotechnological process developed under the project treats ecologically harmful olive residues for use in the production of organic preservatives for cosmetics. The activated ingredients can also be used as cross-linking molecules in the modification and stabilisation of biopolymers.

The enzymatic process developed under the project facilitates the synthesis of pharmaceutically effective natural substances found in sugar, referred to as oligosaccharides and glycopeptides, in a maximum of two stages. Unlike chemical synthesis, no heavy metals or chlorinated hydrocarbons are used, and the process creates 95% less waste.

The German language brochure contains information on the potential recovery of useful materials from the residual pulp produced by fruit and vegetable processing, which can then be used in functional foodstuffs, such as vitamin-enriched drinks. In this process, bioactive ingredients such as carotinoid, polyphenol and fruit sugars are produced by enzyme treatment.

The Zagrebacka Pivovara brewery produces 1,2 mio. hectolitre of beer each year. CO2, a co product of the fermentation process, is collected and purified for utilization at a later production stage. This measure completely avoids the purchase of synthetic CO2.