PNCDI2 - ZEOGREY

Title: INTEGRATIVE SYSTEMIC TECHNOLOGIES FOR WASTEWATERS PROCESSING WHICH USE BIOFILMS FIXED ON ZEOLITE MATERIALS

Period: 2008 – 2010
Partners:

Summary:
The project proposal matches the priority research area 3 – Environment, Research Direction 3.1 – Modalities and mechanisms for environment pollution reduction, respectively the Research Thematic 3.1.2 – Environmental friendly products (green chemistry).
The project main objective consists in the achievement of a system for punctual processing of “grey type” wastewaters (kitchen – bathroom of the scope: household, hotels, restaurants, etc., with a general average content COD of 150 mg O2/l ). For this purpose, there can be used microbial biofilms of the types: Ralstonia, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, controlled by genetic methods and fixed on zeolites: clinoptillolite and mordenite (Hrenovic J. si col., 2003). The project fosters the collaboration of research-innovation entities specialized in environment protection, respectively in biology. All these R&D&I entities are prestige units at national and interantional level for the expertise field.

It is well known that the zeolite particles are good carriers of bacteria, which are absorbed on the zeolite surface resulting a complex system. The obtaining of some microbial biofilms, fixed on zeolite materials in established technological conditions, is explained by the expression of s factor that de-represses ca. 40% of the genes and phenotipically modifies the bacterial cell making it sessile. These changes, influenced by technological parameters for growth and development, lead to a totally different behavior of the sessile (fixed) variants against the planctonic variant (suspension): proper homeostasis, metabolic cooperation, fundamentally changed reaction – integrity, essential property of biological systems. The analogy of biofilms colonizing the zeolites with eukaryote organisms can be extended also to the spreading strategy. Thus, the physiologically effective cells that are well protected in community constitute the most competitive expression of the prokaryote genome, while the planctonic cells, less efficient, are produced with the aim of being spread and colonize new spaces.
For the elaboration of these technologies, there were foreseen studies regarding: the natural zeolites used as support for the microbial biofilms and methods of microorganisms molecular genetics related to bacterial genomic DNA isolation and purification, verification of DNA extracts purity and integrity and PCR amplification of 16S RNAr gene. These works lead to settling the type of microorganisms forming the biofilm at a certain point. The biofilms utilization methods for the elimination of hazardous waste substances having an effect over the environmental ecology were completed with their fixation on zeolite materials, so as to considerably increase their effect per time unit and for the same wastewater volume.

By de-pollution and re-conversion of pollutant from the wastewater, the outcomes are: water cleaned according to European Community Directives and to Romanian State legislation in the field, NTPA 001/2002 and NTPA 002/2002, which can then be discharged into natural generators or, by completing the procedure, it can be reused as drinking water; biomass constituted out of biofilm growth and development that can be transformed into natural organic fertilizer. The technology proposed is based on bioprocesses, which finally could lead to: the design and development of some advanced environmentally-friendly procedures for wastewaters de-polluting and for the protection of natural ecosystems; the reconversion of material energy from polluted wastewaters stereo-structures and the achievement of some sources bearing new values (biomass – organic fertilizer).

Link:      Contact: popovici_stela@yahoo.com

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