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US 4,067,821 AGranted
Method of treating a biomass
AssigneeCeskoslovenska komise pro atomovou energii
InventorsVaclav Votapek, Eduard Marval, Rudolf Jilek, Karel Stamberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A technique is described for stiffening a biomass comprising mycelia fungi used for retention of heavy metal ions. The procedure involves dispersing a dry or native mycelium strain in a non-polar dispersion medium, agglomerating the resultant dispersion by adding a stiffening component and a surface active agent, and catalyzing the agglomerated mixture to yield stiffened granules.
Claims8
A method for stiffening a biomass comprising fungi mycelia which comprises the steps of:
- a. dispersing a dry mycelium strain in a non-polar organic dispersion medium by means of an agitator, the dry mycelium strain being present in an amount ranging up to 2 parts by weight of dispersion medium,
- b. effecting agglomeration of the dispersed mycelium strain by adding thereto a solution comprising a stiffening component selected from the group consisting of formaldehyde, formaldehyde-resorcinol solutions, formaldehyde-urea solutions and polyvinyl acetate emulsions, and a polar surface active agent in a solvent which is immiscible in the dispersion medium, the stiffening component having a concentration ranging from 0.1% to saturation and the surface active agent being present in an amount ranging from 0.0001 to 0.1 parts by weight per part by weight of dry biomass, and
- c. stiffening the agglomerated mixture by adding a polymerization catalyst thereto and heating the mixture to a temperature of at least 70.degree. C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.