Elimination of Unpleasant Odors from Sugar Beet Pulp

EM1 AROUND THE WORLD: Lithuania

Mr. Audrius Galinis from the Lithuanian company Loba, who distributes EM•1® in Lithuania, has reported his own experience applying EM Technology™.

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In 2009, a sugar factory accumulated a large amount of unused sugar beet pulp placed in a pit of the sugar factory complex in the city center of Marijampole city.

In spring 2010 the residents were annoyed to find the stench caused by the sugar beet pulp pit. Due to the hot summer in 2010, the residents of Marijampole appealed to the Lithuanian Environmental Protection Ministry to solve this serious odor problem. 

Therefore, the sugar factory decided to suppress the odor with quicklime, but it did not help. In autumn 2010 the sugar factory's management contacted Loba, the Lithuanian EM distributor. Loba inspected the sugar beet pulp pit to ensure that EM Technology™ will be capable to remove the unpleasant odors with no hassle. However, Loba had to guarantee the sugar factory that EM™ would be effective so they proposed to do some tests. The test results were satisfactory not only for the sugar factory but also for the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Because of the testing took time till late autumn, when temperatures dropped below 0°C, the real odor removal operation had to be postponed until spring 2011. In spring, Loba sprayed EM™ products into three pits: a sugar beet pulp pit, a waste-water collection pit and a sludge pit. The result was positive and bad odors were totally removed.

Today, the sugar factory along with Loba carries out tests, to apply EM™ during the manufacturing process in order to reduce waste-water BOD and prevent bad odors.

Waste Water Treatment

EM1 AROUND THE WORLD: IRAN


An Industrial Park near Shiraz, Fars province in Iran was searching for an effective waste water treatment. EM Kanpazir, introduced and made a presentation of EM Technology™ to the department responsible of this industrial park environment and directors. 


This waste water site belongs to an industrial area where 738 companies are involved. 

The total area of the Industrial park covers 1337 ha and the company buildings occupies only 611 ha.
Thus, the responsible department plans to purify the waste water to use as watering and greening the vast free area.

Daily flow is 15000 m3 and EM Kanpazir furnished with 2500 L of Activated EM•1® for the pilot test.
Today, they use 180 L of Activated EM•1® per day for a term of two weeks. 

Even though 2500 L of Activated EM•1® was not enough for such a great quantity of waste water, they obtained good results. 

During these two weeks the EC has been reduced from 17000 to 13000.
And the water qualities changed from a brown colored liquid with a very bad odor to a transparent and better smell water.

EM Bokashi for Human Consumption

EM1 AROUND THE WORLD: Germany 

EMIKO Handelsgesellschaft mbH, has released the EM Bokashi for human consumption!

The edible EM Bokashi is a cereal with additional grains, herbs, fruits and nuts fermented by Effective Microorganisms.
Rich in lactic acid bacteria, it has a particularly sour taste.

How to consume:
Take 5-9 g of EMIKO SAN Granola plus 80g of cereal and serve with milk or fruit juice.

EMIKO SAN ® Plus granola 
cereal organic extra 

WATER PURIFICATION

Microorganisms have much to do with the process of water purification in nature. Even in the latest water purification technology such as the activated sludge process, microorganisms play a major role.

Self-purification power of water works well under the indigenous ecosystems functioning properly with a rich aquatic ecosystem pyramid .In polluted water with sludge accumulating at the bottom and foul odors, self-purification power decrease as the result of the dominance by putrefactive microorganisms. This leads to decrease of nutrition necessary for ecosystems to function and keep their purification.

Applied to polluted and putrefactive water, EM holds a dominant position in the layer of microorganisms and help ecosystems revive and reduce sludge and foul odors. The purpose of EM application is not to create apparently-clear water by chemical means but to revive the native function of aquatic ecosystem. In this sense, Depending on the overload of drainage and the volume of water, the amount and the frequency of Application of EM should be various.

Aquaculture

Commercial aquaculture covers a variety of crops from vegetables to fish to shrimps. The system designs vary from indoor systems to outdoor pond systems. Depending on the fish, the water may be fresh, brackish, or salt water. Another factor to consider is the evaporation rate. 

We are often asked if EM•1^® Microbial Inoculants can be used in someone's pond or aquaculture system. A tremendous amount of information on the various styles of fish farms ranging from shrimp farms in Thailand that are in the ocean to catfish farms in China has been generated over the years on Effective Microorganisms™ in large-scale aquaculture operations. 

The most common problems that fish farms have are due to over-stocking of the farms and creation of excess ammonium nitrogen in the water.  Basically, there is an over-population problem from over-stocking and too much wastes cause the fish to be susceptible to diseases.  The concentration of wastes increases (rise in BOD) microbial activity and drop dissolved oxygen (DO) in the ponds or tanks, starving the fish from oxygen. This stresses the animals and can kill them. EM•1^® Microbial Inoculant is effective at controlling these issues. 

The application ratio for water applications are the same across the board, whether a fresh water pond or a stock pond.  It is one part Activated EM•1^® Microbial Inoculant per 10,000 parts water in the system.  Frequency of application varies according to the type of fish grown and the type of system being used.  Sometimes a weekly application is done, alternating EM5 with Activated EM•1^® Microbial Inoculant (AEM•1^®). Some pond systems are used year-round and not drained while others are cleaned on a rotating yearly basis. Fertilizing of these ponds is done and EM•1^® Microbial Inoculant. 

 EM Application at the Elbe River Flood in Germany

Presented At Harvard University, March 20th, 2005 by Reinhard Mau of EMiKo

The great flood of the Elbe River in August 2002 was the biggest flood disaster in Germany in decades, with 20 casualties and more than $20 billion (USA) of damage in property and infrastructure. The flood was caused by extreme and continuous rainfall for many days in the mountains of Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. This is in no way comparable to the disaster of last December’s tsunami in the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean but just the same people had to experience how helpless we are in face of such forces of nature.

The Elbe River, one of the major streams in Europe, stretches slightly more than 1000 kilometers from east to west and descends 1384 meters from its origin in the Bohemian mountains to the North Sea. 65% of it passes through Germany, 34% through the Czech Republic. The catchment area amounts to 148,268 square kilometers. The stream flow per year measures at the Czech-German border 10 billion cubic meters and at its mouth 28 billion cubic meters per year.

In many places the dams left and right of the river were soaked to the core and threatened to break.  In fear of the dams breaking, thousands of volunteers helped to strengthen and secure them.  Also, parts of the German Army were called in to assist by hand or with heavy machinery where this was possible. Because of the soaked grounds in many occasions, help could only come on foot or by helicopters.  Sometimes single estates and even single villages were secured by strengthening the dams.  Many of these attempts failed in the end because of the tremendous amounts of water. 

The strong current swept everything along and carried all kinds of debris in houses, gardens and fields.  When the dams broke the water poured into open fields and rushed down streets, flooding villages and towns from the back so that there was no protection for the inhabitants any more.  Thus, the water flooded large areas and hundreds of villages and towns in the rather flat region. 

In Germany a large number of private houses have oil tanks for the central heating systems in their basements.  One of the major problems was the oil from underground storage or from the oil tanks in private cellars. Millions of liters of oil were washed into houses, gardens and fields.  In addition hundreds of communal wastewater treatment plants – notably those of the city of Dresden - were flooded so that their sludge along with chemicals and excrement mixed with the oil and contaminated everything within its reach.  Due to various contaminants, the cultivation of crops and vegetables was impossible for a prolonged time.  Farms as well as industrial entities were affected. 

Roughly one year before in the German speaking countries Austria, Germany and Switzerland a Non-profit organization entitled EM e.V. had been founded.   As soon as the scale of the catastrophe was obvious they decided to help in the aftermath with donations of Effective Microorganisms™ or EM•1^®. In Germany alone more than 6,000 liters of EM•1® were donated and shipped to one particular area in order to help fight the developing stench and contamination. With the help of volunteers the producer of EM•1^® in Germany, EMIKO Ltd., filled 4,000 liters in 10-liter containers and had them shipped to the Elbe River area.

One dealer produced 2,000 liters of Activated EM•1^®  and had it shipped there, too.  At the same time the Austrian producer of EM•1^®, Multikraft Ltd., donated several thousand liters to support one particular area in Austria where the heavy rains had broken the dams of one particular river and devastated a number of villages and towns in a similar manner.

The operation was limited to a few villages by the Elbe River. The first problem: Apart from one family, no one had heard of EM•1^® before. So, first, of all the inhabitants were called to meetings where they were informed of the properties of EM•1^® and briefly educated on how and where to use EM•1^® most effectively.   After the instruction every household could take 10 liters home, but some asked for additional EM•1^® for neighbors and friends. 

While giving out the EM•1^® many questions had to be answered. Most people needed EM•1® to eliminate stench and mold from their previously flooded rooms and basements. They also wanted to treat their gardens, orchards and ponds.  Some volunteers were able to stay an extra day and visit some of the places in order to give advice on the use of EM•1^®.  Many trees had lost their fruit or died from the contamination.  

 

Through the contacts of a native Japanese individual living in Germany who volunteered in the whole operation, a team from a Japanese TV station came to report on the flood. The also came to film the activities at a school where teachers and students together learned about the efficiency of the EM•1^®.  Here the school’s principal gave an interview on how Effective Microorganisms™, conceived by Dr. Higa in Japan, could now help a school in Germany.  Due to the flood, the entire ground floor of the school could not be used. With applications of EM•1^® all renovation could be executed without suffering from stench and mold. For many people the appearance of mold became the biggest problem.  Fortunately, EM•1^® proved to prevent the growth of these molds quite effectively. 

As a final note, there was a two-family house that had such contamination in the rooms of their basements that they individually decided to knock down the moldy plaster and cover the brick walls with new plaster. One family knew of EM•1^®, the other did not. This family sprayed the walls before plastering and also added EM•1^®  in the plaster before applying it, the other family did it without EM•1^®. After a few days in these rooms the mold grew out of the fresh plaster whereas the family who had used EM•1^®  had no mold at all. This was a wonderful example of the capacity of EM•1^®.

 EM Application for Rehabilitation of Tsunami Struck Areas

Introduction

The earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that struck several countries around the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004 have left more than 150,000 people dead and missing. As rescue and rehabilitation operations continue, there are several problems that need to be addressed. Among these are foul odor remediation and infectious disease control due to rotting corpses as well as the lack of safe drinking water and salinity in the soil of many inland areas struck by the tsunami. 

In line with these issues, herewith are some practical suggestions for the application of EM Technology for the rescue and remediation efforts in the disaster struck areas. It must be noted that these are temporary measures.

Salinity control

As the waves swept inland, many freshwater sources and soil areas have been mixed with the water from the ocean. This has left many farms such as rice paddies or shrimp ponds with extreme salinity. In order to reduce the salinity of the food production areas, the following are suggested.

A. Spray with EM Activated Solution: The EM microbes can absorb and store in their bodies the minerals brought in by the seawater and kept in the soil. The minimum recommended application is EM Activated Solution diluted 1,000 times sprayed at 1 L/m2 at least once a week. If possible, it is also recommended to spread bokashi to the food production point (that is, farms or garden plots) to help the EM and other local beneficial microbes increase in the area and hence reduce more quickly the salinity in the soil. 

B. For rice paddies and shrimp ponds

• Apply bokashi as suggested in the APNAN guidelines for land preparation
• Plant rice. This crop has a high salinity absorbing capability. It is expected that one cycle can help decrease significantly the salinity in the soil.
• Change water regularly as the usual practice in growing rice.
• In the case of areas where there is no water (as in a paddy), wheat, barley, etc. can be planted since these crops have high salinity absorbing capability.

 C. Other crops: watermelons and melons could be planted. Application of bokashi as suggested in the APNAN guidelines should be followed.

Foul Odor Control

There is much foul odor emanating from the decaying bodies. Spraying of EMAS, preferably at a dilution rate of 1:30-50 is suggested. For an area in general, spraying twice a day is also recommended to help reduce the chance of the spread of infectious diseases.

Obtaining water for general use (not for drinking): Making a simple filter

For drinking water

Many military engineering corps have their own drinking water conversion and treatment systems. It would be much quicker to use such systems to obtain drinking water. Commercially available treatment systems are also available, such as reverse osmosis systems with 5 filter layer systems and can only filter about 550L per day and costs about 70,000 baht per unit (in the case of Japanese brands in Japan). Nonetheless, a simple filter system can be made as follows:

Obtaining water from open water sources, such as rivers, other freshwater / brackish water sources.

Obtaining water from open water sources, such as rivers and other freshwater bodies (for general purposes, not for drinking).

For making of EMAS

It is preferable to use clean/drinking quality water for making of the EMAS. However, in case it is difficult to obtain clean water, brackish water can be used. In the case brackish water supply is limited, brackish water (50%) and sea water (50%) can be used. The use of 100% seawater is not advised.

For malaria control in freshwater bodies
It is possible for malaria and other waterborne diseases to break out from unclean freshwater sources. As countermeasure, the following are suggested:

• Spray EMAS - Initial application: 1:2000 of water volume -  Next applications: 1:5,000-10,000 of water volume
• Apply mud balls (not bokashi balls) into the ponds at a rate of 1 pc/m2

 It is expected that mosquito incidence will decrease significantly and larvae cannot develop.

Others

• Toilets: In the case of makeshift toilets, EMAS can be sprayed for foul odor control and suppression of pathogenic microbes.
• Bath/shower alternative: Mix at least 1% of EMAS or EM1 to water. Wet a hand
  towel and apply to the body. If 1% of EMAS is not effective, a more concentrated EMAS dilution, (up to 10%) is recommended. It must be noted too that the body of some people may initially react to the EMAS application. Itchiness, redness of the skin may be experienced. If it is too much to bear, it is recommended that the person stop this application.

Rainwater: Collected rainwater may be used for general purpose as well as for drinking. EM application can be as follows: