BiOWiSH – Sutherland’s worldwide Biotechnology Solutions
BiOWiSH is a Sydney-based biotechnology company involved in the commercialisation, marketing and distribution of active microbial, enzyme-based products. It specialises in producing technology to service four main sectors - waste management, wastewater treatment, cleaning industries and agriculture - and has exclusive worldwide intellectual property rights to sales, distribution, product development and manufacturing of products based on its self-developed core technology.
The technology harnesses natural microbial and enzyme functionality using a proprietary protein ‘super catalase’ that provides a significant biochemical rate acceleration, “achieved through improving the kinetic rate of a broad range of enzymes”.
The company claims its technology “is both groundbreaking and versatile, and there is virtually no biological process that cannot be enhanced with BiOWiSH”. BiOWiSH gained some global exposure during relief efforts following the south-east Asia tsunami in December 2004, when it was used to remove odour and prevent the spread of disease.
Thai scientist Dr W. Chantawhichayasult originally developed the enzyme-based technology during a decade-long research project where he studied water sanitisation in natural environments and the unique ability of mangrove plants to remove a wide range of pollutants from urban run-off waters.
BiOWiSH is a private company that now has 10 staff at its head office at Sutherland in Sydney’s south, and has recently opened an office in the US. The company’s effort to establish itself as an international brand has been bolstered by distributors in Asia, the UK and Scandinavia.
BiOWiSH has teamed up with local government across Australia working to minimise landfill stress and greenhouse emissions through its commercial composting technology, as well as reducing the environmental impacts of wastewater treatment.
One recent project involved working with Bathurst Regional Council in NSW’s central west to reduce the energy required for aeration in sewage treatment and cutting the volume of bio-solids produced from this wastewater treatment. For more information, contact marketing manager Lorenzo Gella on (02) 9710 5239, or via the company http://www.biowishtechnologies.com/. Story sourced from http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1003382
Real life carbon free house?
Nippon Oil Corporation recently announced that the company has completed construction of its Soene House (Energy Creation House), a show house located in Kohoku Ward in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, to conduct a real-life experiment in attaining a carbon-free residential home.
Japan for Sustainability reports that the Soene House is being used as a demonstration site for the Integrated Residential Energy System that encompasses various energy saving and generating units.
To read the full article visit Japan for Sustainability: http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/029041.html
This story was sourced from the Resource Recovery Forum (www.resourcesnotwaste.org)
From Blood to Mineral Innovation
Researchers from the University of South Australia have adopted a technique known as “microfluidics”, which is used commercially to separate and purify biological samples of proteins, DNA and blood, for mineral processing. The method can be used to extract copper quickly and efficiently, said postdoctoral researcher in microfluidics Craig Priest, and could potentially be scaled up to industrial levels for recovering nickel, uranium, gold, platinum and others.
The technique uses microscopic streams of liquid to separate valuable metals from dissolved rock and “could revolutionise mineral processing”.
“Microfluidics is the flow of liquids along microscopic channels-some finer than a human hair-to rapidly mix, react, analyse and separate material at high efficiencies and with excellent control,” Priest said. “Converting rocks into metal requires many steps and precise control of physical and chemical conditions. Microfluidic streams give us this control and allow multiple industrial steps to be carried out in a single, compact device.”
“Building microfluidic technologies into mineral processing plants is not without its scientific and engineering challenges, but these should not be insurmountable in an age where mineral resources are increasingly scarce and global responsibilities are recognised.”
The research is being carried out at the University of South Australia’s Ian Wark Research Institute as part of a national effort to address emerging challenges facing the resource sector – one of Australia’s most significant industries, exporting $100 billion a year and employing 142,000 people.
More on this story from http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1003172
Electricity from Waste using gasification and fuel cells
As reported in Sustainability Matters (June/July 2009), UK company Waste2Tricity is planning to develop community or business scale plants across the country to turn household or commercial waste into a hydrogen-rich gas that can be used to generate electricity on site.
The planned process uses new generation fuel cells and will take in sorted carbon waste – plastics, paper, cardboard, food and other plant material. It will go into a plasma gaification chamber and turned into syngas. The process is claimed to have fewer pollutant gases than incineration and the main by-product is an inert slag that can be used in road building.
Initially the plasma gas process will fuel a conventional internal combustion engine (stage 1) but later it will be replaced by fuel cells (stage 2). The first stage 1 plant is planned to be ready in about 3 years and stage 2 in 4 to 5 years – it is estimated one plant could fuel 22,500 homes. Story sourced from www.sustainabilityMatters.net.au.
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