Unique Czech biotechnologies can make billion-worth business in Russia

The Russian cosmic industry seeks new ways of exploiting its free capacities, and one of its biggest projects includes a major role of a unique Czech patented biotechnology. The technology solves the waste water disposal and purification including further utilization of the sludge for production of energy or high-quality fertilizers. The total investment potential of the projects in the countries of the former Soviet Union is estimated to several billions EUR.

The technology that should help to bring the solution to the hot ecological problems, as well as profit, was developed by the south Moravian company cluster Water Treatment Alliance associated around the Ecofluid Group from Brno. Biotechnological water purification technology is still more and more demanded, not only for high efficiency and excellent parameters of the purified water, but also for low operating costs and lower spatial requirements compared to classical technologies. Ecofluid, a bearer of the patent-protected technology USBF belongs to the world’s leading group, and as such, it was given a number of important contracts in many countries around the world.

The UBSF (Upflow Sludge Blanket Filtration) Technology utilizes a flaking cloud effect - fluid filter technology to separate the sludge from the water. The urban sewage plant usually produces biological sludge contaminated by heavy metals, and therefore unusable for agricultural purposes, but the Ecofluid company came up with economical solution. “We proposed to the Russian party a solution consisting of pairing the biotechnology with fluid sludge combustion, that solves the sludge problem without production of harmful emissions. The contaminated sludge is liquidated and in addition, the combustion produces energy.” Says Professor Svatopluk Mackrle, the founder of Czech fluid filtration tradition. Under the frame of the planned cooperation, the Czech biotechnology should be used not only in Russia itself, but also in all post-Soviet republics, as well as India.

The second and no less perspective area of Czech-Russian cooperation is an application of the AGROCLAR technology. The system, focused on processing of liquid manure produced by livestock to humus fertilizers was conceived even before 1989, but after the high-capacity hogpens were dissolved and abolished, there was no use of the technology in the Czech republic. However, the Russians were interested very much, because in their country, the problem grew into enormous dimensions. “There have been build hogpens for more than two hundred thousand animals each, and their excrements were just let out to flow directly into lakes and seas.

Logically, over last fifty or sixty years, this gave birth to enormous, stinking “lagoons”, that are a great burden to the environment. At that, the pig manure is a irreplaceable source of organic biomass and nutrients for the soil – and the lack of these means fast degradation of the soil,” explains Prof. Mackrle, who proposed an original solution to the Russian party: “The AGROCLAR biotechnology serves not only as a water purification, but it also produces a humus fertilizer of truly prodigal properties. The continuous composting reactors can be used for planting microorganisms that are antagonistic to pathogenic microorganisms or soil pest, and that allows the agriculturalists to produce healthy vegetables without a need of using chemicals to protect it. Russia would be able to produce millions of tons of such humus fertilizer, there are voices of interest also from Netherlands and Arabian countries. A serious ecological problem can thus be solved by the AGROCLAR technology in an economic way, with high rate of return of investment.

The Russian party has its partner not only in Ecofluid Group, but in the whole Water Treatment Alliance cluster, whose primary programme is represented by the application of the USBF technology in water purification and processing. “An existence of such a cluster, that is able to cover the technology as a single investment unit, adds a great new dimension to the offer, and that is highly appreciated by our partners,: said prof. Mackrle. “A big credit must be given also to the South Moravian Innovation Center, which participated at the birth of the cluster – because without research support, the development of biotechnologies in Brno would never be possible.”

Team Gate2Biotech