Concepts of microbial ecology and biotechnology in process industry.

Coming back to the issues of microbial ecology and biotechnology:

Both of them have helped IM to understand the multitude of microbial activities which are typical for paper industry. Technical framework, beginning from the preparation of raw materials and ending to the waste water treatment plants can be regarded as fermentors or bioreactors where growth conditions vary a lot. Everlasting input of bacteria (and sometimes also fungal organisms) contain strains which can be adapted into these processes and live in them over very long periods - even tens of years. These topics, definitely, belong also to the research area of microbial ecology and its theories about adaptation, competition, synergisms...

These issues have been discussed by IM already in previous posts and shall be taken into account - in more detailled form - in near future.

By the way - what would be more interesting than to have shared net forum of paper industry engineers, environmental microbiologists, ecologists, biotechnicians and other specialists to discuss about similarities and analogies between natural environments and paper mills? Even limnology gives hints to understand certain microbial activities - like the growth of microbes in water flows as biofilm organisms. Another analogy can be found when observing the microbial populations of lake or ocean sediments and the microbial flora of different kind of depositions in paper mill machinery.

IM is looking forward to hear various multiscience views by biologists, biotechnical and environmental microbiologists, ecologists, limnologists and oceanologists about similarities between natural environments and paper machines!