RESEARCH TO DEVELOP MICROBIOLOGICAL INOCULA AND DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE SCALE MICROBE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIOREMEDIATION

Contract Number: OMFB-02779/00 (BIO-089/2000)

Starting date: 15/12/2000

Duration: 30 months

Total cost: 249,6 M HUF

OM contribution: 100,4 M HUF

Acronym: MicroBioRemed

Background

The current state of economic and environmental stabilization of Hungary and the EU accession procedure calls for up-to-date technologies for the decontamination of waste and for the recycling of materials into the natural carbon and nitrogen cycles. Waste of agricultural and communal origin, soil and groundwater contaminated with chemicals produced by the chemical industry or military activity are particularly hazardous in nature. These dangerous substances must be eliminated before Hungary is accepted into the EU; this has been clearly indicated during the accession negotiations.

The “classical” approach to deal with environmental contamination includes mechanical and chemical methods; bioremediation is gaining increased attention in environmental management. Bioremediation uses microbial strains developed through selection, strain improvement or genetic modification. The most effective microbes are then produced at large scale for field exploitation.

Bioremediation enjoyed an increasing interest during the past 6-8 years in Hungary. Characteristic of the domestic bioremediation activity is that the inoculation biomass is purchased from foreign suppliers, because local development of suitable microbes is missing. Similarly we are lagging behind in the development of production facilities for bioremediation.

At the same time a large number of internationally recognized scientists work in the universities and basic research institutes at a distance from practical applications. The knowledge base of this scientific background can and should be used for the rapid development of the Hungarian biotechnology industry. One of the centers of excellence in biology research and development in Hungary is concentrated in the city of Szeged. The high-tech biotechnology industry will likely rely upon the knowledge of the Szeged scientists working at the Biological Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and at the Department of Biotechnology, University of Szeged. This scientific background is suitable to establish the emergence of the future bioremediation industry of Hungary.

OBJECTIVES

Stimulated by the domestic and Central Eastern European potential market, our goal is the initiation of R&D work leading to the development of novel bioremediation inocula and to their effective and economic large scale production technology. The aim is to be achieved through implementing reliable and cheap fermentation facility in the range of 80-100 m³ capacity. The contracts already won from the EU 5th Framework Program and those in the pipeline will help us to establish an international interest towards this developmental work. The University of Szeged will provide the site for the fermentation experimental plant at the ancient Soviet military base just outside the city. This location is to be developed into an industrial park by the city council of Szeged. Our establishment will be the first of this kind at this site, but hopefully a number of SMEs will start their operation in the near future as part of the activity of the Applied Environmental and Life Sciences Research and Development Center, which is being implemented here.

Description

The fermentation facility will be constructed to include a series of 5-6 fermenters having individual working volume of 1-15 m³. This arrangement ensures economical operation and flexibility. The fermenter vessels will be manufactured from plastic material; a prototype has been developed as part of an earlier OM KFHÁT R&D project.

Laboratory sized copies of these fermenters will be installed in the research lab to facilitate easy scale-up work. The laboratory will first develop the strains, which have been already identified and partially characterized in the research lab of the collaborating partner. Microorganisms capable of biodegradation of various organic wastes and hazardous contaminants will introduced for commercial exploitation. The strains include those capable of efficient degradation of sulfanilic acid, chlorinated hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon contamination, or resistant biopolymers.

Current situation

• Negotiations are carried out in order to find the proper location for the experimental fermentation plant.

• The blueprint for the mobile unit has been finished it is being constructed now.

• Diverse and complex laboratory work has been started in order to identify a number of novel candidate microbes for bioremediation application.