The characterization of polutant-degrading microorganisms from contaminated soils, waste water treatment plants or biofilters for the cleaning of waste gases usually starts with enrichment cultures and ends with the taxonomical and functional characterization of the isolated strains. However, the use of cultivation independent techniques, like cloning and sequencing of marker genes, indicate th...

Background: Heterogeneity in recombinant protein quality (e.g. glycosylation) can result from a) changes in cultivation conditions during a fermentation process, b) product degradation due to differing residence times of product molecules in the supernatant, c) heterogeneities in intracellular PTM (post transcriptional modification) machinery, or from a combination thereof. To minimize heteroge...

The present study assessed the use of hydrolysate of lipid extracted algal biomass (LEA) combined with the sugar factory wastewater (SFW) as a low cost nutrient and a carbon source, respectively for microalgal cultivation. Microalgal strain Ettlia sp. was both mixotrophically and heterotrophically cultivated using various amounts of hydrolysate and SFW. The culture which was grown in medium con...

The potential of two zygomycetes fungi, Mucor indicus and Rhizopus oryzae, in assimilating citrus waste free sugars (CWFS) and producing fungal chitosan, oil, and protein as well as ethanol was investigated. Extraction of free sugars from citrus waste can reduce its environmental impact by decreasing the possibility of wild microorganisms growth and formation of bad odors, a typical problem fac...

Waste with high biomass content generated in cities in developing countries is sent to landfills or open dumps. This research aims to degrade biomass content in urban waste through cultivation, at pilot scale, of the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. First, the number of diapers used by one baby per week was measured with a survey in day care facilities. Then, cellulose content of diapers wa...

The effects of drip irrigation and different cultivation methods on seedgermination and growth of Puccinellia tenuiflora in saline-sodic soils wereinvestigated in field experiments during 2008-2010 in the Songnen Plain, China.Drip irrigation was applied to waste saline-sodic P. tenuiflora grasslands for bothflat and ridge cultivation methods. Drip irrigation affected the distributions ofelectri...

The paper presents the current situation of the waste management system of the megacity Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, and the options for waste and land recycling in a low income country. Generally, there is a large potential for circular economy in the city as the main proportion of the waste flows are recyclables. Due to the missing selective collection system, this potential is not used in the ful...

Submitted: May 21, 2013; Accepted: Jul 3, 2013; Published: Jul 20, 2013 Abstract: Mushrooms are a primary part of managing solid waste, building organic soil and returning minerals to the soil. Sisal processing in Kenya generates an estimated 611,875 tonnes of solid waste annually, which is discarded leading to environmental pollution. Sisal waste contains; lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses ...

New vegetation in barren areas offers possibilities for sequestering carbon in the soil. Arid and semi-arid areas (ASAs) are candidates for new vegetation. The possibility of agriculture in ASAs is reviewed, revealing the potential for cultivation by covering the surface with a layer of organic fibres. This layer collects more water from humidity in the air than does the uncovered mineral surfa...