Mint ePaper 22.04.2009

www.livemint.com/2009/04/21180011/A-new-way-to-clean-up-the-rive.html

NUALGI NANOBIOTECH - A new way to clean up rivers, lakes
B Y D EEPTI C HAUDHARY deepti.c@livemint.com
BANGALORE


How would you like the idea of cleaning a dirty lake or a river for a nominal price and in an eco-friendly way?
Bangalore-based NuAlgi Nanobiotech has devised a way to treat sewage and effluents through a patented product, called NuAlgi, which not only cleans a polluted water body without affecting its ecology, but also adds nutrients to it, increasing the food content for fish.

NuAlgi, which can be used to clean a pond, a lake or a river, is available in powder form which needs to be dissolved in water in a container before draining into the water body. Chief executive T. Sampath Kumar recommends using 1-2kg of NuAlgi per 4 million litres of water. A 1kg pack of NuAlgi is priced at Rs275.

Within 15 minutes of dissolving NuAlgi in the water, diatom algae are released. These growing algae absorb nutrients and carbon dioxide from the water and produce oxygen by photosynthesis. The oxygen released helps aerobic bacteria break down the organics and convert the pollutants to base constituents, all this minus the stink that anaerobic decomposition generates. The diatoms are eaten by zooplanktons that are, in turn, consumed by fish. The ecosystem of the water body is maintained and observed by the presence of healthy fish, which are fit for human consumption.

“With the use of NuAlgi, all polluted lakes and rivers can be restored without harming the water life,” says Kumar, who invented NuAlgi over eight years, from 1996 to 2004, and has since been marketing it mainly to fishermen in and around Bangalore.

Besides cleaning water bodies, the product also has several other uses. NuAlgi can be used for growing phytoplankton in oceans to absorb carbon dioxide and reduce the greenhouse effect, thereby aiding in solving the global warming problem.

It can also be used for preventing the growth of toxic algae species called red tides in the oceans. It can be used for generating plankton and live food in aquaculture ponds which can boost the growth of prawns and fish.

The firm is currently selling the product for aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the product is nationally marketed by Secunderabad-based Kadambari Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

The relatively little-known firm has so far treated at least 100 lakes. In Bangalore, it has treated sewage laden lakes such as the Madivala lake, Ulsoor lake and Puttenahalli lake. Some of its clients include Cochin Sea Foods, Mysore Breweries Ltd and Ashok Leyland Ltd.

Kumar says NuAlgi is a fast and economical alternative to the conventional effluent treatment plants in treating sewage and other organic wastes.

However, the qualified chartered accountant, who is now working on applications of using NuAlgi to produce biodiesel and ways to mitigate global warming rues the lack of awareness about the product. The reluctance of people to take up environmental issues has been a severe roadblock in the propagation of the product. “We are very successful in clearing ponds, though not as successful commercially. Nobody wants to clean up water bodies. People don’t care.” “I can clean up the whole of Yamuna in 15-20 days,” he claims.

“This kind of play needs government assistance. Lakes, rivers, ponds are a public property in India and no private firm or body or firm will take up their maintenance or cleaning up,” said Rajesh Srivathsa, managing partner, Ojas Venture Partners.

NuAlgi Nanobiotech, which is breaking even, employs eight people, and its immediate future plans include marketing the product more aggressively and raise funds. Kumar says they are in talks with venture capital funds but refused to divulge how much he plans to raise.

EMAIL
deepti.c@livemint.com

http://www.ibef.org/artdisplay.aspx?cat_id=60&art_id=22661

US Govt funding for Small Businesses

Biotechnology and Chemical Technologies
Proposal Due Date: June 9, 2009

http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/2009_bc.jsp

BT.3 Environmental Biotechnology: Such applications include but are not limited to methods to reduce human ecological and environmental impacts, microbial contamination sensing and control, removal of toxic compounds for human and animal safety, novel bioremediation technologies, point of use water treatment, midstream wastewater treatment technologies, treatment of runoff, environmental compatibility and sustainability, pathogen and toxin diagnostics, control of exotic diseases, control of introduction of exotic species, nanobiotechnology solutions, water treatment, improvement of the environment, monitoring of pollutants, and generally decreasing the environmental impact of humans on the planet.


Biotechnology and Chemical Technologies
Proposal Due Date: June 9, 2009

Please direct inquiries to:

Greg Baxter (gbaxter@nsf.gov) for Subtopics under Biotechnology

Administrative Information

The required 400-word project summary should discuss the intellectual merit and broader impact in two separate ~200 word paragraphs that specifically answer the following questions: Paragraph 1) Intellectual merit: What is the problem to be solved? How will the problem be solved? What is the innovation in the proposed approach? Paragraph 2) Broader Impacts: Why is your solution better than competitive technologies? Who is going to buy your solution? Who are the other key players? If these answers are not addressed, the proposal may be returned without review.

Proposals must address the potential for commercialization of the innovation and how it would lead ultimately to revenue generation. It is important that the proposed technology increase the competitive capability of industry, be responsive to societal needs, and is sensitive to solving "real" problems driven by critical market requirements. There is considerable overlap between the subtopics and proposers should pay attention to the areas indicated under each subtopic to assist the program in placing these proposals on review panels.

Letters of Support for the Technology

Inclusion of letters of support for the technology within the proposal is strongly encouraged for proposals being submitted to this solicitation. Letters of support act as an indication of market validation for the proposed innovation and add significant credibility to the proposed effort. Letters of support should demonstrate that the company has initiated dialog with relevant stakeholders (potential customers, strategic partners, or investors) for the proposed innovation and that a real business opportunity may exist should the technology prove feasible. The letter(s) must contain affiliation and contact information for the signatory stakeholder.

---------------------------

Any US Small Business interested in working on Nualgi with funding from US govt may contact us.

Nualgi - video of a lake in Hyderabad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va5rP1lLoiE

The video of the impact of the use of Nualgi on a lake in Hyderabad is available on You Tube.

This clearly shows the oxygen bubbling up, due to the bloom of Diatom Algae.

The Blue Green Algae crashed out in a couple of hours.
The lake is visibly dirtier after 2 hours, this is part of the cleaning up process.

The organic matter that had settled down on the lake bed over many years, becomes loose and floats up.

Thus the lake is fully cleaned up from the bed upwards.

The oxygen bubbling is visible for over 2 weeks.

This would be visible only in heavily polluted lakes and not in lightly polluted lakes, since the Diatom bloom would be more when more nutrients are available in the water.

The dissolved oxygen level raises steadily over a few days.

The Diatoms are consumed by Zooplankton and these by fish, so there is no residue.

Fish Kill in Mir Alam Tank, Hyderabad

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/28/stories/2008072859000400.htm

HYDERABAD: In a rare phenomenon, hundreds of dead fish were found floating along the shoreline of Mir Alam lake from Sunday morning.

Locals, who first noticed this phenomenon, started collecting dead fish for consumption before better sense prevailed and they subsequently desisted.

All through the day, the lake shoreline was crammed with inquisitive locals, trying to witness and ‘argue’ over the reasons behind the phenomenon.

Risky affair


Hundreds of dead fish were found floating inside the phytoplankton thriving in abundance in the lake.

“I was shocked to see dead fish floating. Everyday, I venture inside on my boat to catch fish but today it was different. Even the big fish were dead and floating. Many took away several big fish before we asked them not to consume. It could be risky because the lake is polluted,” says Ali Raza, a local resident.

Residents claimed that they had never witnessed this phenomenon earlier.

“We have informed about it to zoo authorities. They asked us to contact HUDA officials. People here consume the fish and officials should clarify on the safety levels of the lake,” felt S.Q. Masood, another resident.

Wildlife experts attribute this sudden death of fish, to lack of dissolved oxygen, so vital for survival of fish. Weather conditions, especially during rainy season and cloudy days also lead to such type of problems, they say.

Decay process


A bit of rain leads to growth of plankton (microscopic plants and algae) in lakes. Planktons produce oxygen and its lifecycle is short-lived.

They die and again grow and this decay process of organic material increases consumption of oxygen, they explain.

“More organic material lead to less dissolved oxygen and without oxygen fish die,” World Wildlife Fund (WWF) State Director for Farida Tampal said.

Officials to visit site


“Cloudy conditions, rain and release of waste from naalas into the lake lead to increased consumption of oxygen. This depletion of oxygen leaves fish with less oxygen to survive. In such instances, large fish die first because they naturally need more oxygen. We will visit the place and collect water samples,” said HUDA Executive Engineer (lakes) Zafrullah Khan.

--------------------
Fish Kills can be prevented using Nualgi.

Fish Kill in Indira Park, Hyderabad

http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/11/stories/2009031160910300.htm

HYDERABAD: Morning walkers at Indira Park witnessed an unusual sight very recently. The pond meant for boating inside the park had dozens of dead fish floating about in the mossy water surface.

“The fish were removed and piled up on the edge of the pond. It was a pitiable sight,” laments S. Rajagopal Goud, a retired teaching professional who frequents the park.

Certainly the boating pond is no Miralam Tank and no alarm was caused about fish dying in there. Even now, a careful observer can spot an occasional carcass of fish floating about, hardly visible in the filthy water.

-------------------

Fish kill in ponds, lakes and rivers can be prevented easily using Nualgi.

IMPACT OF HURRICANE GUSTAV On FISHERIES OF LOUISIANA

Interesting report about the impact of Hurricane Gustav on Fisheries Resources of Louisiana.

http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/pdfs/hurricane/LDWFgustavupdateSept9-08(900%20am)_(2).pdf

Extracts

SOUTHEAST

Since the southeastern part of the state was ground zero for hurricane Gustav, it will likely see the greatest fisheries impacts. Fortunately, storm surge was not as high as expected and fish kills from saltwater intrusion should be minor. Fisheries crews are currently on the water conduction an initial damage assessment. Extensive rainwater runoff containing large amounts of organic matter such as leaf litter from practically defoliated trees in the area will cause fish kills during the next several weeks as the organic material decomposes causing low oxygen conditions. As waters practically devoid of oxygen recede, fish will be trapped and unable to flee from the anoxic conditions and die. Fishery resource damage in this area is expected to be heavy and will extend for several weeks. At this time a few fish kills have been reported by the public.

09/08/2008 – Fish kills are being reported throughout the area. Many subdivision lakes are experiencing fish kills.

Lake Tai / Taihu - China - Algae eating fish.

Interesting news about use of Fish to consume Blue Green Algae in Lake Tai / Taihu near Shanghai in China.


http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/algae-munching-fish-clean-chinese-lake



Algae-Munching Fish Clean Up Chinese Lake
BY Ariel SchwartzFri Feb 20, 2009 at 4:03 PM

Algae is often hailed as the next great biofuel resource, but the pond scum can multiply enough to threaten water supplies when left to its own devices.

China's 900-square-mile Taihu Lake, in the east near Shanghai, is covered in polluting blue-green algae blooms, which are mainly caused by untreated sewage (which contains high concentrations of nitrogen). Combined with industrial waste, the blooms post a major threat to Taihu's status as a water source for the nearby city of Wuxi (population: 2.3 million). And despite a multi-million dollar investment in sewage pipes, Taihu's water remains a problem.

The solution? 10 million algae-eating fish. Chinese officials plan on releasing green and silver carp into the Taihu as part of a massive clean-up effort. Even though the 10 million fish will only clean up one-tenth of Taihu's massive area, it's a huge step for one of China's most scenic lakes.

The country has used algae-eating fish to clean Taihu and other lakes before. The fish, which include Black Molly, Plecos, and Siamese Algae Eaters, are also often used by fish enthusiasts to clean freshwater aquariums.

Via PhysOrg

*******************************

nualgi can do the job better with Diatoms and any species of fish.

Restoring Plankton

Use of Plankton to toxic pollutants in waer.

http://www.sas.org/conference2003/program.html#hemerick

Glen Hemerick
"Restoring Plankton"
Mr. Hemerick has won local recognition and financial backing for an experiment his is conducting on whether or not local populations of saltwater plankton can be manipulated artificially. His project has also drawn praise for involving local high school science students.
His project involves collecting and cultivating saltwater plankton in a laboratory environment. They are grown and released into Puget Sound, or into streams which flow into lakes, which have a history of toxic, or other undesirable plankton, with the hope that the former may compete with the latter.
Glen Hemerick is an amateur scientist and volunteer with the Clover Park High School Science Club in Tacoma, WA.

Red Tides

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820163241.htm

Science News
Biologists Find Diatom To Reduce Red Tide's Toxicity
ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2008) — It’s estimated that the red tide algae, Karenia brevis, costs approximately $20 million per bloom in economic damage off the coast of Florida alone. Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that a diatom can reduce the levels of the red tide’s toxicity to animals and that the same diatom can reduce its toxicity to other algae as well.
If scientists can learn to use this process to reduce the toxicity of red tide, they could reduce the vast amount of economic damage done to the seafood and tourism industries.
The research appears as articles in press for the Web sites of the journals Harmful Algae and the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B.
“We found that red tide toxins can be metabolized by other species of phytoplankton. That holds true for both the brevetoxins that damage members of the animal kingdom and the as yet unknown allelopathic toxins that kill other competing species of algae,” said Julia Kubanek, an associate professor with a joint appointment in Georgia Tech’s School of Biology and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Red tide is a dramatic case of an ecosystem that’s out of control. In normal seawater, K. brevis makes up about 1 percent or less of the species, but during a red tide, that share increases to more than 90 percent. Filter feeders such as oysters, mussels and clams ingest the dinoflagellate and become unsafe to eat. Fish killed by the red tide wash on the shore, which can be contaminated and essentially unusable to tourists for months at a time.
Kubanek and her researchers found in previous work that the growth of the diatom Skeletonema costatum was only moderately suppressed by the brevetoxins released by the red tide. So, they figured that the diatom might have a way to deal with the toxins. According to their study, they were right.
In one experiment, detailed in the journal Harmful Algae, Kubanek’s students grew the red tide algae along with the S. costatum diatom to test her group’s hypothesis and found that the samples with both organisms had a smaller concentration of brevetoxin B than samples without the diatom. They also tested the algae with four different S. costatum diatom strains from around the world and came up with largely the same results. That suggests that evolutionary experience with the red tide algae was not necessary for the diatom to resist the toxins.
In another experiment, covered in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they found that the red tide algae was able to reduce the growth of the S. costatum diatom, but that exposure of the red tide organism to S. costatum makes the red tide less toxic to microscopic algae. That suggests that the diatom is somehow able to reduce the potency of red tide’s toxins.
“It could be that Skeletonema is degrading Karenia’s allelopathic chemicals just like it degrades brevetoxins. Or, it could be that Skeletonema is stressing Karenia out, making it harder to produce allelopathic chemicals,” said Kubanek.
What they do know is that the brevetoxins that harm oysters and other members of the animal kingdom aren’t the whole story.
“We found that when we took seawater and added purified brevetoxins to it, the live algae didn’t suffer much, so there must be other chemicals released by the red tide that are toxic to these algae,” said Kubanek.
How that’s done, isn’t clear yet, but Kubanek and her group are currently working on finding the answer to that question.
“What we do know is that this diatom, S. costatum, is able to undermine these toxins produced by the red tide, as well as the brevetoxins that are known to kill vertebrate animals like fish and dolphins,” said Kubanek.
If scientists such as Kubanek and her team can learn more about the strategies that microscopic algae use to reduce the toxicity of red tide, they might be able to use that knowledge to help reduce the poisonous effects the tide has on the animal kingdom, not to mention the damage it does to the seafood and tourism industries.
Kubanek’s research team for these studies consisted of Tracey Myers and Emily Prince from Georgia Tech and Jerome Naar of the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Adapted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology.

NUALGI - SOLUTION TO POLLUTION

Nualgi
Solution to Pollution
Solution to human waste treatment (Water pollution)
Solution to Carbon dioxide emissions and Global Warming (Air pollution)
By product – fish (increase in food availability)
www.nualgi.com/new and www.kadambari.net
* * *
Key Words – Phyto-remediation, bio-remediation, wastewater treatment, sewage
treatment, lake remediation, aeration, diatom algae, water pollution, polluted lakes.
* * *

All of us contribute to sewage and pollution.

We generate waste and flush it down the drain and it flows out as sewage.
In Indian cities one person generates about 100 litres of sewage per day.

We burn fossil fuel -
for conveyance – two wheelers, cars, buses, trains and aeroplanes,
LPG for cooking, and
electricity at home and office.
50 litres of petrol releases 150 kgs of carbon dioxide and 1 kWh of electricity from coal fired thermal power plants results in 0.8 kgs (Avg) of carbon dioxide emission.

The Problem:
Disposal of human waste is becoming a great challenge day by day. Rapid urbanization has increased the amount of sewage and higher population density has reduced the space available to set up STPs. Pumping and treatment of sewage is very expensive and lack of adequate sewage treatment facilities is resulting in pollution of lakes and rivers.

Higher CO2 in the atmosphere is leading to global warming.

The Solution :
Now there is a simple and effective solution within the reach of everyone to contribute directly to the cleaning up of sewage and to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere – NUALGI.

You are aware that aforestation leads to cleaner air, similar results can be achieved by growing algae in water. Algae are aquatic plants that also use photosynthesis to absorb CO2 and release oxygen.

Higher oxygen levels in water enable aerobic bacteria to grow and these breakdown organics in sewage into the base constituents, these are consumed by plankton or become harmless sludge.

What is Nualgi?

Nualgi is a plant nutrient in Nano particle size and this is used to grow diatom algae in any water including water polluted with sewage. It has micronutrients (P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, S, Co, Mo, Si) in nano form (20 nano meters to 150 nano meters in size) and these are easily absorbed by the microscopic diatom algae (0.05 to 0.5 mm in size).

Diatom algae are aquatic plants that undergo photosynthesis and absorb carbon and release oxygen and they also consume nutrients like nitrates and phosphates, thus removing them from the water body.

Diatoms have a silica body and are eaten by zooplankton, these are in turn consumed by fishes, higher fish population attracts birds, thus polluted lakes and rivers are restored to their original glory.

Green and Blue Green Algae have a cellulose body and hence cannot be consumed by Zooplankton. Thus when these proliferate in polluted lakes the lakes become green in colour and smell due to the decaying organics and algae.

Nualgi dispersed in water looks like a solution but has very fine particles of the size estimated to be 20 to 150 nanometers. The particles are not visible to the naked eye or under compound microscope.

Nualgi is made by a complex process. The product has been patented, Indian patent no. 209364 dated 27/08/2007. PCT Patent has been also been granted.