METHODS FOR SEQUESTERING CARBON OF ORGANIC MATERIALS

Abstract

Methods and systems for inhibiting biodegradation of biodegradable organic material are provided. In particular, methods for the treatment and storage of organic material (e.g. waste, vegetation) in hypersaline environment, including mixing with oceanwater, concentration to hypersalinity and maintenance of carbonaceous organic waste in the hypersaline environment, rather than combustion or decay thereofare provided.

Claims

1-2. (canceled)

3. A method of inhibiting biodegradation of a biodegradable organic material comprising: a) contacting said biodegradable organic material with oceanwater; b) concentrating said oceanwater, thereby producing a hypersaline environment; and c) maintaining said biodegradable organic material within said hypersaline environment, wherein steps (b)-(c) are performed in a hypersaline lake, and wherein said biodegradable organic material is selected from the group consisting of urban waste, hospital waste, biotechnology industry waste, municipal waste and industrial waste, and wherein the salinity of said hypersaline environment is in the range of NaCl 4-50%, thereby inhibiting biodegradation of said organic material.

4. A method of inhibiting the biodegradation of biodegradable organic material comprising: a) contacting said organic material with an effective amount of a solid salt, thereby producing a high salt environment; and b) maintaining said biodegradable organic material within said high salt environment, thereby inhibiting biodegradation of said organic material.

5. (canceled)

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said concentrating is effected by a method selected from the group consisting of evaporation, leaching, supplementation of the cytotoxic agent and reverse osmosis.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein said biodegradable organic material consists of biotechnology industry waste comprising tissue culture and bioreactor waste.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said biodegradable organic material is in a liquid form.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein said biodegradable organic material is in a solid form.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said biodegradable organic material is a sludge or a slurry.

11. (canceled)

12. The method of claim 3, wherein said hypersaline environment is a liquid hypersaline environment or a solid hypersaline environment.

13. (canceled)

14. The method of claim 3, wherein said biodegradable organic material is maintained in direct contact with said hypersaline environment.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising covering said biodegradable organic material with a solid or semisolid sealing material.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said solid or semisolid sealing material is selected from the group consisting of clay, ice, plastic, wood, glass and salt.

17. The method of claim 3, wherein said biodegradable organic material is pre-treated with a cytotoxic agent or cytotoxic process prior to or following step (a) and/or (b).

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said cytotoxic agent or cytotoxic process comprises heating, cooling, cytotoxic alkalinity, cytotoxic acidity, disinfection, radiation, salinity and antibacterial inoculation.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein volume of said biodegradable organic material is reduced prior to said sealing.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) or step (b) further comprises contacting said biodegradable organic material with a photoabsorbent pigmented material.

21. The method of claim 3, wherein concentrating said oceanwater in step (b) to hypersalinity comprises concentrating to a salt concentration greater than 4% (w/vol).

22. The method of claim 3, wherein said concentrating is achieved by evaporation.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein said concentrating is effected by solar energy.

24. (canceled)

25. The method of claim 3, wherein said high salt environment comprises crystalline or granulated salt.

26. The method of claim 3, wherein steps b) and c) are performed in an evaporation pan.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the upper surface of said evaporation pan comprises a layer of solid or semisolid sealing material covering biodegradable organic material comprised within a hypersaline environment.

28. The method of claim 3, wherein said contacting is performed below sea level.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein said contacting is performed at or above sea level.

30. A system for inhibiting biodegradation of biodegradable organic material comprising: a) an evaporation pan; b) a saline solution source; c) a source of biodegradable organic material; and d) a means for concentrating said saline solution in said evaporation pan, wherein said evaporation pan is designed to allow contact of said biodegradable organic material with said saline solution and wherein said means for concentrating said saline solution is designed to allow concentrating said saline solution in said evaporation pan while maintaining contact with said biodegradable organic material.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said evaporation pan comprises a layer of solid or semisolid sealing material covering biodegradable organic material comprised within a hypersaline environment.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein said evaporation pan is comprised within or near a saline or hypersaline lake.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein said evaporation pan is comprised within or near a sea coastline.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein said evaporation pan is located below sea level.

35. The method of claim 3, wherein the salt concentration of said oceanwater is about 3.5% NaCl.

36. The method of claim 3, wherein said biodegradable organic material and said oceanwater are transported to said hypersaline lake and contacting with said oceanwater is effected at the site of concentration of said oceanwater.

37. The method of claim 3, wherein said contacting said biodegradable organic material with said oceanwater is effected prior to or during transport to said hypersaline lake.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein said biodegradable organic material is mixed with said oceanwater and transported as a slurry to said hypersaline lake.

39. A method for inhibiting biodegradation of biodegradable organic material comprising: a) contacting said organic material with oceanwater; b) concentrating said oceanwater, thereby producing a hypersaline environment; and c) maintaining said biodegradable organic material within said hypersaline environment, wherein steps (a)-(c) are performed in an evaporation pan at sea level and wherein said biodegradable organic material is selected from the group consisting of urban waste, hospital waste, biotechnology industry waste, municipal waste and industrial waste, thereby inhibiting biodegradation of said organic material.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said evaporation pan comprises a layer of solid or semisolid sealing material covering biodegradable organic material comprised within a hypersaline environment.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein said evaporation pan is comprised within or near a sea coastline.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0128] Reference is now made to the following examples, which together with the above descriptions illustrate some embodiments of the invention in a non limiting fashion.

[0129] Generally, the nomenclature used herein and the laboratory procedures utilized in the present invention include molecular, biochemical, microbiological and recombinant DNA techniques. Such techniques are thoroughly explained in the literature. See, for example, “Molecular Cloning: A laboratory Manual” Sambrook et al., (1989); “Current Protocols in Molecular Biology” Volumes I-III Ausubel, R. M., ed. (1994); Ausubel et al., “Current Protocols in Molecular Biology”, John Wiley and Sons, Baltimore, Md. (1989); Perbal, “A Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning”, John Wiley & Sons, New York (1988); Watson et al., “Recombinant DNA”, Scientific American Books, New York; Birren et al. (eds) “Genome Analysis: A Laboratory Manual Series”, Vols. 1-4, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York (1998); methodologies as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,828; 4,683,202; 4,801,531; 5,192,659 and 5,272,057; “Cell Biology: A Laboratory Handbook”, Volumes I-III Cellis, J. E., ed. (1994); “Culture of Animal Cells—A Manual of Basic Technique” by Freshney, Wiley-Liss, N.Y. (1994), Third Edition; “Current Protocols in Immunology” Volumes I-III Coligan J. E., ed. (1994); Stites et al. (eds), “Basic and Clinical Immunology” (8th Edition), Appleton & Lange, Norwalk, Conn. (1994); Mishell and Shiigi (eds), “Selected Methods in Cellular Immunology”, W. H. Freeman and Co., New York (1980); available immunoassays are extensively described in the patent and scientific literature, see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,791,932; 3,839,153; 3,850,752; 3,850,578; 3,853,987; 3,867,517; 3,879,262; 3,901,654; 3,935,074; 3,984,533; 3,996,345; 4,034,074; 4,098,876; 4,879,219; 5,011,771 and 5,281,521; “Oligonucleotide Synthesis” Gait, M. J., ed. (1984); “Nucleic Acid Hybridization” Hames, B. D., and Higgins S. J., eds. (1985); “Transcription and Translation” Hames, B. D., and Higgins S. J., eds. (1984); “Animal Cell Culture” Freshney, R. I., ed. (1986); “Immobilized Cells and Enzymes” IRL Press, (1986); “A Practical Guide to Molecular Cloning” Perbal, B., (1984) and “Methods in Enzymology” Vol. 1, 2, 317, Academic Press; “PCR Protocols: A Guide To Methods And Applications”, Academic Press, San Diego, Calif. (1990); Marshak et al., “Strategies for Protein Purification and Characterization—A Laboratory Course Manual” CSHL Press (1996); all of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Other general references are provided throughout this document. The procedures therein are believed to be well known in the art and are provided for the convenience of the reader. All the information contained therein is incorporated herein by reference.

EXAMPLE I

Effect of a Hypersaline Environment on Biodegradation of Organic Material

[0130] Biodegradation of biodegradable organic material, in the presence and absence of hypersaline conditions was compared, by assaying CO.sub.2 emission.

[0131] A: Grape Juice

[0132] Methods: Grape juice was placed in test tubes, and salt added to one of the samples in excess of saturation (undissolved salt remained visible). The volume ratio of fluid to air was about 1:2, in rough correspondence to the ocean and atmosphere. The ratio of organic material to water and air was deliberately much larger than that of the biosphere so that CO.sub.2 production would be within an easily detectable range. The test tubes were sealed after several days to allow measurement of emitted CO.sub.2. The gas phase of the test tubes was analyzed using a Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer.

[0133] Results: In the unsalted sample, most of the oxygen had been converted to CO.sub.2 while, in the salt-saturated sample, both the oxygen and CO.sub.2 levels were substantially unchanged from their initial levels, while correcting for the effect of salinity on gas solubility in the liquid (Reduction in solubility of, and release of CO.sub.2 with increasing salt concentration).

[0134] B: Pumpkin

[0135] Methods: Solid pieces of pumpkin were placed in unsalted drinking water and in a saturated sea salt solution. They remained exposed to circulating (ambient) air.

[0136] Results: Those samples of pumpkin maintained in the control (unsalted) sample decayed and lost their geometric form within days. Samples maintained in saturated sea salt solution maintained their geometric form for at least one year (still under observation). One possible interpretation is that at least the cellulose fiber structure of the pumpkin has been preserved by maintenance in the salt solution. Further, whereas the organic material (pumpkin) floated in the saturated salt sample at first, the samples eventually sank, suggesting that the specific gravity of the biodegradable organic material increased with time.

[0137] Solid pieces of pumpkin were also placed in a saturated sea salt solution and then removed after soaking for several days and left in a salt-encrusted state. They, and a control group of untreated pumpkin pieces, were then maintained in sealed test tubes. The unsalted ones showed loss of geometric form and visible growth of mold, while the salt-encrusted samples had no evidence of loss of geometric form or mold growth over many months.