Web-Resol Tudo sobre Limpeza Urbana e Resíduos Sólidos!
São Paulo: In some years, solid waste might no longer have the same destination of the wastes produced by the food industry and agriculture. The waste, rich in proteins, might be transformed into solution for medical and nourishing purposes. This is what thinks Professor Raquel Camargo Giordano from Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFScar) after a study carried out in partnership with Spains Instituto de Catalisis y Petroleoquímica and with Araraquara campus of Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). The solution researched, composed with short peptides and amino acids, can be utilized in the treatment of phenylketonuria, Rachel explains. This genetic disorder is relatively common and its treatment demands a controled diet for the first six years of the patients life with very low amounts of phenylananine – which is taken out of the solution during its industrialization. The product can also be used by patients with pancreatitis. The project also has an echological motivation. The aim is to make the industries utilize the water that is left after the skimming of milk, guts, blood and unedible parts of fish, and the water used in soya beans processing. When dumped into rivers, those rests are eaten by bacteries which consume the oxygen in the water resulting in the death of fauna and flora. To the University, the progressively stricter environmental regulation tends to stimulate the commercial recovery of industrial waste: “There will come a time when treating industrial waste will be compulsory”, believes José Carlos Gubulin, Chief Researcher of the Department of Chemical Engeneering in UFScar. He concludes: “Those who cannot commercialize their waste will be unable to produce more.” The project, scheduled to last four years, received a support of US$ 220 thousand from the Technological and Scientific Development Support Program, sustained by the World Bank and Brazils Ministry of Science and Technology. Echological reasons led Professor Giordano to research with his former colleagues the production of an enzime used in the preparation of semi-synthetic antibiotics such as ampicillin and amoxillin. Laboratories in the whole world are trying to develop a similar product that would bring about a much less pollutant process to manufacture antibiotics
Artigos Relacionados
Check Also
Waste management poses challenges, but could unlock major environmental and economic gains
Every day, the city of Rio de Janeiro, one of the largest metropolises in the Southern Hemisphere, generates 17,000 tonnes of waste, ranging from large industrial debris to candy wrappers bought innocently at newspaper stands. While this waste presents a serious and urgent environmental challenge, it also fuels an increasingly significant portion of the economy, with benefits extending beyond financial gains. - When we look at developed European countries, many are already recycling between 40% and 50%, with some reaching 60%. From an economic standpoint, both recyclable materials and organic waste hold tremendous value - stated Adalberto Maluf, National Secretary for Environment and Environmental Quality at the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), during the Methane Forum: Climate Emergency Brake, at the Rio Nature and Climate Week. Citing a 2025 report, Maluf mentioned that Brazil literally throws away R$27 billion annually, while municipalities spend significantly more - R$45 billion - managing all this waste, often overlooking the environmental impact or economic potential buried in landfills and dumps. - We spend R$45 billion to collect and dispose of waste in landfills, yet we manage to recycle less than a third of the potential. I believe it will be necessary to review contracts, create performance-based remuneration mechanisms, and pay for both effectively sorted materials and those diverted from landfills - he added. According to the IBGE, 60.5% of Brazilian municipalities adopt some form of selective waste collection, and several initiatives serve as examples of how to manage city waste. In his panel presentation, Bernardo Ornelas, Project Coordinator at the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb), highlighted Ecoparque do Caju, a national benchmark in waste management and recycling. There, received materials are sorted and can be used for biogas production, organic compounds for urban gardens, or human consumption, in the case of still...