The present invention refers to release matrices which include a material that can be released in a controlled way or with predefined kinetics into a surrounding medium, reaction vessels comprising said release matrices, and release system further comprising a medium which is able to dissolve the embedded material. The present invention further refers to the use of release matrices in several applications and the production method for such matrices. The present invention also relates to a method that al lows control of the release rate of materials from polymer matrices with several factors.

The invention relates to a bioreactor for methanizing biomass, a biogas plant having a plurality of such bioreactors, and a method for operating such a bioreactor. Because the elongated reactor vessel includes both a loading gate and an unloading gate that are arranged at opposite ends of the elongated reactor vessel, it is possible to remove consumed biomass, which is harmless in terms of epidemiologic hygiene and plant hygiene due to thermophilic process control during the fermentation, from the reactor vessel through the unloading gate and to transfer this consumed biomass directly to the composting process. The bioreactor thus has a clean unloading gate and an unclean loading gate.

A microfluidic system for determining a response of cells comprises one or more fluid pumps. The one or more fluid pumps move a fluid across cells within a microfluidic device. The microfluidic device includes a microchannel at least partially defined by a surface having cells adhered thereto, a first port at one end of the microchannel, and a second port at an opposing end of the microchannel. The one or more fluid pumps move the fluid across the cells in a first direction toward the second port and then move the fluid across the cells in a second direction toward the first port.

A system for digesting biodigestible feed that preferably includes the steps of comminuting the feed, introducing feed, an oxygen-containing gas, an accelerant, and bacteria into a digestion zone, the bacteria being suitable for digesting the feed under aerobic, anaerobic, and anoxic conditions. The contents of the digestion zone can be changed from aerobic operation to either anoxic or anaerobic operation, or vice versa, without changing the bacteria in the digestion zone.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for producing fermented soybean meal, which produces fermented soybean meal for monogastric animals and ruminant selectively or together. An apparatus for producing fermented soybean meal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a solid-liquid separating part, which mixes raw material soybean meal and an extraction solvent and extracts the soybean meal, and separately produces a remaining soybean meal and a soybean meal extract; a lactic acid bacteria culturing part, which produces the lactic acid bacteria by putting inoculum into the soybean meal extract, and supplies the lactic acid bacteria to the solid-liquid separating part; a solid substrate fermenting part, which is selectively supplied with and mixes at least two of the remaining soybean meal supplied from the solid-liquid separating part, the raw material soybean meal supplied through bypass, and lactic acid bacteria supplied from the lactic acid bacteria culturing part to produce a mixed material, and solid-substrate ferments the mixed material to produce primary solid substrate fermented soybean meal; and a drier, which dries the primary solid substrate fermented soybean meal supplied from the solid substrate fermenting part to produce secondary solid substrate fermented soybean meal.

Biomedical devices and methods are disclosed for the development of 3D polymeric scaffolds for cell culture, high throughput screens for biomolecule purification, and generation of bone mimetic materials. The devices may feature multiple geometries, and scaffold generation capabilities include multiple gel types utilizing organic and aqueous phase pregel. Additionally, macroporous and non-macroporous morphologies are possible.

A modular device comprising one or more porous substrate subunits comprising a binding substrate that is capable of interacting with a target biological product, either during, or at the end of a manufacturing cycle; and methods of using the device to harvest or purify a biological product.

An apparatus (10) for the pressurized recirculation of organic material comprising a reactor vessel (12) capable of being pressurized and in which both anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting of organic material may occur, the reactor vessel (12) having both an inlet (14) and an outlet (16) for organic material, together with a conveyor means (18, 20, 22, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34 and 36) to convey organic material to the inlet (14) and from the outlet (16), whereby organic material may be transferred between the outlet (16) and the inlet (14) to achieve recirculation and rearrangement thereof while maintaining a pressurized state. A method for the pressurized recirculation of organic material is also described.

Apparatus 101 for producing a continuous stream of biohydrogen includes a continuous flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) 12, lighting arrangement 13; ports 14; peristaltic pumps 16; and gas chromatograph (GC) 18. The CSTR 12 includes internal bioreactor chamber 20; a photosynthesizing microorganism inlet stream 22.1 for delivering Chlorella vulgaris; an organic waste inlet stream 22.2 for delivering wastewater activated sludge (WWAS); and a nutrient inlet stream 22.3 for delivering nutrients into the chamber 20; an outlet stream 24; and stirrers for stirring the contents of the chamber. The lighting 13 is provided by lamps 26 for transmitting light through a transparent sidewall of the chamber 20. The ports 14 and CG 18 are for taking measurements from the chamber 20. The pumps 16 control flowrate of the streams 22.1, 22.2, 22.3 and 24 for regulating biohydrogen production from fermentation while Chlorella vulgaris consumes oxygen to avoid biohydrogen conversion into methane.

A waste disposal apparatus for disposing of waste materials using aerobic decomposition includes a decomposition chamber, a waste inlet configured to admit waste materials into the decomposition chamber, a water feed system configured for supplying feed water to the decomposition chamber and a drain system configured for draining drain liquid from the decomposition chamber. The apparatus also includes a sensing system configured to sense the volume VF of feed water supplied to the decomposition chamber and the volume VD of drain liquid drained from the decomposition chamber, and a computing device that is configured to determine the quantity of waste material processed by the waste disposal apparatus from the sensed volumes VF and VD.