Patent Application
20240182339
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Trademarks used in the disclosure of the invention, and the applicants make no claim to any trademarks referenced.
“This application is a Continuation Utility patent application claiming priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/950,921, filed on Nov. 18, 2020, which is incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
There are many organic substances which are problematic for humans, wildlife, the environment, and vital infrastructure. Many of these substances are recalcitrant to biodegradation, and many are toxic. Some such substances are harmful to the purity of water, soil, and the environment. Other such substances are problematic because they are indigestible, and fill the digestive tracts of fish, birds, and marine animals, inhibiting the digestion of food. Plastic fragments, usually caused by plastic mulch degradation in farming fields, are problematic because they reduce the adsorption of water and air into the soil. Biodegrading or altering these substances into harmless substances at faster rates than nature can accomplish unassisted offers very important benefits to people, animals, and nature itself.
Many problematic substances, which are organic, yet which are resistant to biodegradation, (mineralization,) may be biodegraded via the appropriate biological processes, which involve the enzymes of microbes and plants as well as those of animals, insects, yeasts, blue-green algae, and fungi. Embodiments of the invention stimulate the production, or increase the production, of enzymes and substances which assist the enzymes that biodegrade recalcitrant to biodegradation problematic organic substances. In some cases, the enzymes involved are commercially available, and can be used directly to biodegrade the applicable substance via admixture. In other cases, the enzymes and their auxiliary substances may be stimulated to be produced from wild microorganisms which are found in the vicinity in which biodegradation of the undesired substances is desired. In yet another class of embodiments of the invention, the microorganisms which will produce the desired exoenzymes and their auxiliary excreted substances, may be cultured and introduced into the environment in which the biodegradation of the undesired substance is desired, and the biodegradation via these enzymes and auxiliary substances may be stimulated by appropriate enzyme stimulating substances. In this patent application, various formulas and microbes and auxiliary substances are delineated, which are optimum for the biodegradation of specific substances which are desired to be bioremediated.
Many substances, including but not limited to, conventional synthetic plastics, including, but not limited to, pure hydrocarbons, can be biodegraded by ligninolytic enzyme systems and the microorganisms which excrete these systems. Hydrocarbon-containing plastics, including but not limited to polyolefins, include, but are not limited to, polystyrenes, polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonates, and conventional synthetic plastics which are not pure hydrocarbons, including but limited to nitrogen-containing polyamides, polyvinyl chlorides.
Furthermore, many other organic substances which are problematic, and resistant to biodegradation, can be biodegraded by ligninolytic systems. These substances include, but are not limited to, kraft lignin, petroleum and its products, including but not limited to, toxins including but not limited to, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs, BTEX toxins, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, BPA and other phthalates, dyes based on petroleum or coal-based substances, and substances containing phenols, including but not limited to, creosote and olive oil mill wastes.
The reason that it is very widely believed, even by many microbiologists, that these substances are non-biodegradable, is that most of these substances do not contain chemicals which stimulate the production and excretion of ligninolytic systems. If chemical stimulators for the stimulation of the production and excretion of ligninolytic enzymes and ligninolytic auxiliary substances are present, these allegedly non-biodegradable substances are readily biodegraded, by the production and excretion of radicalized substances produced by ligninolytic systems. Claiming substances which stimulate the ligninolytic system's production and excretion is therefore a novel and unexpected part of this invention which concerns biodegrading substances which are biodegraded by ligninolytic systems, that is, independent claim 1, and dependent claims 2, 3, and 4.
Embodiments of the invention can be incorporated in articles such as plastic products while they are being manufactured, or they can be admixed with recalcitrant to biodegradation substances, such as admixture in the environment, where they are problematic due to their admixture with the environment, as in petroleum spills in the water or groundwater, including but not limited to, in the ocean, or in the pollution of soil, or in wastewater. Embodiments of the invention can also be used in the process of treating industrial wastes, including but not limited to, industrial wastewater.
Ligninolytic Enzymes and Auxiliary Excreted Ligninolytic Substances Biodegrade Many Recalcitrant-to-Biodegradation Organic Substances
Ligninolytic systems include exoenzymes, including but not limited to, laccases and peroxidases, including but not limited to manganese peroxidases, lignin peroxidases, versatile peroxidase, horseradish peroxidase, and other peroxidases containing, but not limited to, other transition metal bearing peroxidases, such as copper, iron and zinc bearing peroxidases, as well as auxiliary enzymes and substances, including but not limited to, organic acids, aryl alcohol oxidases, glyoxyl oxidases, and glucose oxidases. Noted for excreting these enzyme systems are ligninolytic fungi, including but not limited to, white rot fungi, which are especially noted for biodegrading lignin, including but not limited to, many oxidative enzyme-producing Ascomycetes, Deuteromycetes, and Basidiomycetes (white rot) fungi. White rot is an informal name which refers to the visual effect these fungi have on wood, giving a white appearance to the rotted wood because they biodegrade lignin in preference to cellulose. Lignin is reddish, and cellulose is whitish.
Lignin is found in many kinds of plants, including trees and grasses. For this reason, ligninolytic microorganisms are ubiquitous. Lignin is very resistant to biodegradation, compared to other plant components, such as hemicellulose, cellulose and sugars. Also excreted to assist this biodegradation of lignin, aside from the above mentioned enzymes, are organic acids and their salts, including, but not limited to, oxalic, malonic, malic, citric and formic acids, as well as salts or esters of organic acids. Alcohols such as veratryl alcohol and aryl alcohols also assist the production of H2O2, which is then radicalized into oxygen-containing radicals, and glucose oxidase, which can also produce H2O2 from glucose. There is no widespread consensus of exactly how organic acids assist ligninolysis, but it is widely agreed that they do so. It has been speculated that organic acids are an oxygen source for the production of oxygen radicals, which are used by microorganisms to biodegrade recalcitrant to biodegradation substances, including but not limited to, lignin and toxins. These ligninolytic enzymatic systems are excreted by these microorganisms, which include but are not limited to, fungi, yeasts, and bacteria.
In addition to these acids and aryl alcohols, enzymes for which these aryl alcohols and acids are substrates assist in the biodegradation of lignin, plastics, petroleum and its products, including but not limited to, toxins, including but not limited to, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, PCBs, BTEX toxins, creosote, olive oil mill wastes, herbicides and pesticides, antibiotics, BPA and other phthalates, and dyes based on petroleum based substances.
All of these difficult to biodegrade organic substances are especially prone to biodegradation by radicalized substances, including but not limited to oxygen radicals. It is the resulting oxygen radicals that are most especially prominent in biodegrading these substances, via complex reactions caused by interactions within ligninolytic enzymatic systems, which result in the production of radicals, most importantly, oxygen radicals. In many cases, these oxygen radicals are generated from hydrogen peroxide, which is created by complex processes involving aryl alcohol oxidase, glucose oxidase, and glyoxal oxidase.
Prominent among these auxiliary enzymes in the ligninolytic systems excreted are aryl alcohol oxidases, which oxidize aryl alcohols, and glyoxal oxidase enzymes, which metabolize small aldehydes. Aryl alcohol production and excretion is a part of the ligninolytic system in many fungi and microorganisms. These oxidases, when excreted, generate H2O2, which is subsequently radicalized to oxygen containing radical species by ligninolytic enzymes, including but limited to, laccase, manganese peroxidase and lignin peroxidase. Mineral substances, including, but not limited to, manganese ions, are also excreted in order to facilitate this biodegradative process by becoming ingredients for the production of manganese peroxidase.
A number of inventions have claimed what they describe as oxidant or prodegradant compounds, in the form of transition metal compounds, but these inventions claim relatively large amounts of transition metal compounds, to cause oxodegradation, which is a method of stimulating a destructive cascade of radicals, caused by the effect heat or ultraviolet light on some transition metal compounds, supplied in relatively large quantities. The invention disclosed herein use much smaller amounts of transition metal nutrients, in the form of salts, as trace nutrients, such as are found in vitamin and mineral supplements for humans and livestock, or in basal salt media, used to nourish microorganisms for microbiology experiments. Transition metal compounds also stimulate the production and excretion of enzymes of which trace transition metals are constituents. No embodiment of the invention claimed herein requires any exposure to elevated heat or ultraviolet light at all, to cause biodegradation of recalcitrant to biodegradation organic substances.
All embodiments of the invention claimed herein function best at temperatures between 10 and 35 degrees C., and they function as well in darkness as well as they do under UV light. Since oxodegradable compound-treated conventional synthetic plastic products normally are buried in landfills, or occasionally in commercial compost heaps, they are typically not degraded after being disposed of, and thus are not biodegraded in any measurable amount. Oxodegradation initiated by heat typically requires elevated temperatures well above ambient temperatures, 57 C or more typically being necessary to result in mineralization of the synthetic plastic which incorporates oxodegradable additives, which include many thousands of times more transition metals by percentage than embodiments of the invention disclosed herein.
A number of microbes are also noted for excreting ligninolytic systems which will degrade the conventional plastics and other substances, also called substrates, mentioned in this section of this patent application, said microbes include but are not limited to, Bacillus species, Penicillin species, Burkholderia species, Pseudomonas species, Streptomyces species, Rhodococcus species, and many more bacterial genera and species which can biodegrade lignin. Classes of organisms which biodegrade lignin include but are not limited to, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and blue green algae.
It is likely that the primary function of fungal ligninolytic enzyme systems is to penetrate lignin barriers in plants, in order to access cellulose, hemicellulose, and sugars, which are food sources for ligninolytic fungi. It is likely that the primary function of ligninolytic systems in bacteria is to detoxify microbes' immediate surroundings, to protect the bacteria from toxins.
While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have been summarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a few exemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice such embodiments. The described examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art however that other embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Several embodiments are described herein, and while various features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that the features described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token however, no single feature or features of any described embodiment should be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments of the invention may omit such features.
In this application the use of the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise and use of the terms “and” and “or” is equivalent to “and/or,” also referred to as “non-exclusive or” unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considered non-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompass both elements and components including one unit and elements and components that include more than one unit, unless specifically stated otherwise.
Lastly, the terms “or” and “and/or” as used herein are to be interpreted as inclusive or meaning any one or any combination. Therefore, “A, B or C” or “A, B and/or C” mean “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B and C.” An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps or acts are in some way inherently mutually exclusive.
As this invention is susceptible to embodiments of many different forms, it is intended that the present disclosure be considered as an example of the principles of the invention and not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments shown and described.
The admixture of certain commercially available substances, as well as agricultural byproducts, will cause ligninolytic microorganisms to excrete the ligninolytic systems, resulting in the biodegradation of many unwanted organic substances, including but limited to, hydrocarbon plastics and many petroleum and natural gas based substances, including but not limited to, synthetic plastics, petroleum, gasoline, diesel, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, lubricating oils, aniline dyes, PCBs, BTEX toxins, bisphenols, phthalates, creosote, olive oil mill wastes, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, plant pitch, phenolic substances, explosives and their derivatives, lignin, and lignin derivatives and metabolites, including but not limited to, kraft lignins and black liquor.
Substances which stimulate the production and excretion of, or which increase the ligninolytic system production and excretion include, but are not limited to: Explosives and their metabolites, including but not limited to trinitrotoluene, polysorbate 80, ethanol, salts of transition metals, including but not limited to iron, copper, and manganese, and many organic substances which include a phenolic moiety, including but not limited to, phenolic compounds containing one or more methoxy phenolic moieties, including but not limited to, a phenol in which there are two methoxy groups attached, including but not limited to, one methoxy moiety one each side of the hydroxyl group attached to the benzene ring, not including acetosyringone, including but not limited to, kraft lignins, guaiacol, syringaldehyde, vanillin, acetovanillone, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, sinapic acid, coumarin, catechol, orcinol, resorcinol, eugenol, pyrogallol, acetaminophen, tannic acid, 2,5-xylidine, and many more similar compounds.
Phenolic substances, (substances in which a benzene ring has at least one hydroxy group attached to the benzene ring,) contribute to a chain of radical production, a chain reaction of radicalization by being themselves subject to being radicalized, typically first into phenoxy radicals, then in turn creating more powerful oxygen radicals, in a chain of reactions in which radicals impact and radicalize other oxygen containing substances. Linoleic acid can also contribute to the creation of radicals, due to being prone to radicalization at its unsaturated bonds, by hydrogen abstraction. The drying oils are especially prone to this form of radical creation by hydrogen abstraction at the unsaturated carbon to carbon bonds, even being able to auto-oxidize, thus initiating a cascade of oxygen radical production.
The best way to biodegrade these substances is to admix the ligninolytic system stimulating chemicals in a moist environment containing ligninolytic microorganisms, by stimulating wild microorganisms or cultured ligninolytic microorganisms with chemical stimulators of the ligninolytic systems' production and excretion. The process would be further enhanced by mixing in basal salt mixtures, including but not limited to, Murishige and Skoog's, and readily assimilated carbon sources, including but not limited to fatty acids, cellulose, polyols, starches, sugars and polymers of sugars, and nitrogen containing substances, including but not limited to, ammonium nitrate, ammonium tartrate, ammonium sulfate, urea, ammonia, and B vitamins, including but not limited to, thiamine, biotin, or thiamine and biotin containing substances, to nourish the microorganisms.
These nutrient mixtures can nourish ligninolytic bacteria, ligninolytic yeast, and ligninolytic fungi. The process would be further improved by supplying additional (that is moderately more than is usually found in basal salt mixtures,) but still vert minute amounts of bioassimilable mineral salts of transition metals, including but not limited to, salts of iron, copper and manganese, including but not limited to, sulfur salts thereof.
Below is an effective embodiment of the invention for biodegrading substances subject to biodegradation by ligninolytic systems, when admixed with these substances in an environment that is moist or wet, and slightly aerated, and containing colonies of ligninolytic microbes, fungi, or blue green algae, sufficient to biodegrade one metric ton of the substance to be biodegraded. The amount of the invention needed to cause effective biodegradation of recalcitrant to biodegradation substances is relatively small, less than 3% of the weight of the substance to be biodegraded. The figures are in kilograms per ton of substrate.
In one embodiment of the invention for use in conventional synthetic plastic products, an effective way of admixing the above formula in plastics which do not contain oxygen or nitrogen in their molecular structure is to make pellets of the plastics with compatibilizers that make non polar plastics compatible with polar ingredients, in which the embodiment is mixed with compatibilized plastics in higher concentrations than is intended in the end product. Such compatibilizers are available commercially from a variety of vendors. These compatibilizers are commonly available in pellets, and they usually consist of nonpolar plastics that have been modified by covalently bonding the plastic with oxygen containing groups, including but not limited to, maleic anhydride, glycidyl methacrylate, and acrylic esters. These pellets, containing higher concentrations of the embodiment than intended to be used in finished products, are meant to be later mixed with plastics lacking oxygen containing groups and otherwise lacking the embodiment.
The embodiment of the invention is effectively combined with the compatibilizer in a machine, including but not limited to, a twin screw extruder, which melts, mixes, and pelletizes the compatibilizer and the embodiment of the invention. Subsequently, the plastic to be biodegraded is admixed with the pellets consisting of a compatibilizer and the embodiment of the invention, in a machine which melts and mixes the embodiment pellets and the plastic pellets. The resulting pellets are then turned into end products by methods known to those skilled in the art of thermoplastic manufacturing. Such end products are everyday products meant to have a useful lifespan of less than one year, including but not limited to, plastic shopping bags, disposable eating utensils, packaging for food and other commercial products, bottles, straws, cups, cup lids, stirrers, stretch wrap, etc.
Plastics containing ester moieties are somewhat resistant to biodegradation by ligninolytic systems, probably because of hydrogen bonding within ester-containing plastics, mutually reinforcing their long molecules, making them resistant to biodegradation by oxygen radicals.
Oxygen containing plastics, containing ester moieties, including but not limited to polyethylene terephthalate, epoxy resins, polyethylene furanoate, polytrimethylene furandicarboxylate, acrylate plastics, methyl methacrylate, sodium polyacrylate, and polylactic acid can be biodegraded by esterases, including but not limited to, cutinase.
Cutinase is a natural poleyesterase enzyme, the natural function of which is to biodegrade the natural polyester coating of leaves and bark. Because leaves and bark are ubiquitous, microorganisms which can biodegrade natural polyesters are ubiquitous. Once the leaves and bark have been penetrated, the microorganisms which excrete the cutinase have access to the cellulose, hemicellulose, and sugars found within the plant, which are food sources for the fungi and bacteria. The microorganisms which excrete cutinase, include but are not limited to, fungal plant pathogens, which include but are not limited to, Fusarium species, Magnaportha species, Colletotrichum species, and a few bacteria species.
Plant pathogens are ubiquitous, and they may be stimulated into excreting esterases, including but not limited to, cutinase, by substances which are constituents of plant cutin, or which resemble constituents of plant cutin. Examples of this are 16-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid, polysorbate 80, and linoleic acid, which stimulate this excretion, resulting in the biodegradation of ester group containing substances, including but not limited to, plastics, by means of severing the ester groups from the carbon atoms to which it is bonded. The resulting severed moieties are readily biodegraded by many microorganisms.
The process would be further enhanced by mixing in basal salts and readily assimilated carbon and nitrogen sources. These nutrient mixtures can nourish lipase and cutinase excreting organisms and microorganisms. The process would be further improved by supplying additional mineral salts of transition metals, including but not limited to salts of zinc, which is a constituent of cutinase, and of nonionic surfactants, including but not limited to, polysorbate 80 and 20, which increase the permeability of cell walls.
Here is an effective embodiment of the invention for biodegrading substances subject to biodegradation by cutinase or lipases, when admixed with these substances in an environment that is moist or wet, and containing colonies of cutinase or lipase excreting fungi or bacteria, including but not limited to plant pathogens, sufficient to biodegrade one metric ton of the substance to be biodegraded. The figures are in kilograms per ton of substrate.
Cellulose 15 polysorbate 80 1.65 Refined glycerol 1.5 flaxseed oil 5
In an ester biodegrading embodiment of the invention, an optional method of admixing the above formula in plastics is to admix it with the kind of plastic containing oxygen or nitrogen to be biodegraded, in which the embodiment is mixed with plastics in higher concentrations than is intended in the end product, while the plastic is in a melted state. The embodiment of the invention is effectively combined with the oxygen or nitrogen containing synthetic plastic in a machine, including but limited to, a twin screw extruder or Brabender mixer, which melts, mixes, and pelletizes the compatibilizer and the embodiment of the invention. Subsequently, the plastic to be biodegraded is admixed with the embodiment containing pellets with more melted pellets of the plastic to be biodegraded, and the embodiment of the invention. The resulting pellets are then turned into end products by methods known to those skilled in the art of thermoplastic manufacturing, the end products including but not limited to, PET bottles.
The formula above can be used in many embodiments for the biodegradation of various substances, but substituting the correct stimulators for the flaxseed oil and 16-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid listed above in similar amounts, the different stimulators as delineated in the claims, according to the specific substance to be biodegraded, as per those in the claims attached to this patent application, those independent claims being numbered 12 and 15.
Superoxide dismutase, a ubiquitous enzyme known for rendering oxygen radicals less harmful, alters hydrogen sulfide into harmless substances which do not contribute to concrete erosion.
Researchers have proposed different theories regarding the origin of hydrogen sulfide in sewers. Whatever its source, hydrogen sulfide in sewers is transformed by bacteria living in biofilms attached to the concrete pipes and structures in sewers into sulfuric acid, which degrades concrete, causing billions of dollars worth of damage to sewers every year. The addition of superoxide dismutase (SOD) to sewers will greatly reduce this hugely expensive to repair damage to the concrete. Zinc/copper SOD is widely available as a commercial product from chemical suppliers, at prices that make the use of SOD in sewers a bargain, compared to repairing sewer damage, or compared to continuous admixture of inorganic chemicals that bind to hydrogen sulfide or sulfuric acid.
Extracted SOD may be admixed to H2S containing waste water by any means, including but not limited to, the admixture of copper/zinc exo-SOD to the sewer water, or by culturing SOD excreting microorganisms in the sewer water, or by the growth of said microorganisms attached by exopolysaccharides to an attachment medium placed in sewer water. Examples of these SOD excreting microorganisms include but are not limited
to, Aspergillus species, Penicillium species, and Cryptococcus species. It would be advantageous to provide pre-cultured media for the microorganisms to cling to, including but not limited to, plastic mats, brushes, ropes, foams, and fiber bunches, and commercial products such as Zeeweed, so that they would not be swept away by the flowing sewer water.
Using SOD for this purpose would be less expensive than the currently used chemical additives, because the SOD does not bind itself to the hydrogen sulfide, but rather binds additional sulfur atoms to hydrogen sulfide repeatedly, without itself being bound to the hydrogen sulfide.
Another application for SOD removal of H2S is in removal of H2S from petroleum and natural gas refining plants and effluents. H2S removal from petroleum and natural gas is referred to as “sweetening.” Alkanolamines such as DEA, MEA, and MDEA are currently used for this purpose, but they have to be removed from sweetening plant waste water due to environmental protection laws. SOD biotransforms H2S via combining H2S+O2, to H2S2, H2S3, H2S4 and H2S5, which substances do not have to be removed from wastewater to legally discharge the treated water in countries with rigorous environmental protection laws.
Biodegrading Substances that Contain Amide Groups
Enzymes called amidases biodegrade substances that contain amide groups, including but not limited to, polyurethanes and polyamides. Chemical stimulators will elicit the production and excretion of amidases in many microbes. These chemical stimulators include, but are not limited to, amides, acetamide, acrylamide, butyramide and urea. Organisms that can produce and excrete amidases include, but are not limited
to, Pseudomonas species, Mycobacterium species, Rhodococcus species, Streptomyces species, Klebsiella species, Burkholderia species, Alcaligenes species, and Arthrobacter species.
Biodegrading substances that contain nitrile groups, including but not limited to, carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber (XNBR) and hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR)
Many millions of protective XNBR nitrile rubber gloves are manufactured and disposed of every year, and many millions of tires containing HNBR are manufactured and disposed of every year. These products are very resistant to biodegradation, so it is a huge benefit to the environment to make them biodegradable. XNBR products can have biodegradation stimulating substances incorporated in them during their manufacture. Despite being very resistant to chemical penetration, XNBR has a number of moieties that can be readily biodegraded by ligninolytic systems, ester degrading enzymes, and nitrile biodegrading enzymes.
Therefore, any substance for enhancing biodegrading XNBR would optimally include the claimed inducers of the production and excretion of these enzymes and systems, and the claimed nutrients, followed by the subsequent mixing of the treated substance with the claimed microorganisms for the biodegradation of these moieties. HNBR is a hydrocarbon containing a hydrocarbon backbone, and nitrile side groups, and so is biodegradable by ligninolytic systems in combination with nitrile degrading enzymes, assisted by nutritional substances, when combined with the claimed fungi, yeast, or microbes.
The term basal salts as used herein means a mixture of elements in the form of water soluble compounds, said elements being necessary to organisms of every kind. Salts of nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, potassium, boron, colbalt, iron, manganese, molybdum, copper, and iodine are typically included in basal salt mixtures, in the form of water soluble compounds, often in the forms of compounds containing O, H2O, SO4 and Cl2, to render them soluble in water.
Organically assimilable nitrogen sources means herein that a nutrient substance contains nitrogen in its composition, and said nitrogen is capable of being assimilated by microorganisms. The group of organically assimilable nitrogen sources comprises substances which include, but are not limited to, urea, nitrates, nitrites, ammonium compounds, and amino acids.
Organically assimilable carbon sources means herein that a nutrient substance contains carbon in its composition, and said carbon is capable of being assimilated by microorganisms. The group of organically assimilable carbon sources comprises substances which include, but are not limited to, sugars, polyols, carbohydrates, fatty acids, and organic acids, and compounds which contain these substances as constituents.
B vitamins means herein substances which comprise a group of substances which contain B vitamins and their precursors and derivatives, including but not limited to, thiamin, biotin, bran, and substances which contain these substances as constituents.
Definition of the Words Biodegrade, Biodegradation, Compost, Home Compost, Decompost, Mineralize, Bioremediate, and Biotransform
Used herein, all of these words shall mean to so affect a problematic, difficult to biodegrade recalcitrant to biodegradation substance by means of an enzyme, an enzymatic system, or by an organism or microorganism via the production of enzymes or enzyme systems, so as to render said substances less toxic, less hazardous, less corrosive, less harmful to the environment, or in any other way less problematic.
Organic substances as used herein shall mean carbon-containing compounds, as is usual, but also means compounds resulting from the activity of microorganisms, such as hydrogen sulfide and sulfuric acid.
Nothing in the abstract, field of invention, background, description, embodiment formulas, specification, or other non-claim parts of this patent application shall be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. Only the claims attached to this document are meant to claim or limit any aspect of the invention.
Since many modifications, variations, and changes in detail can be made to the described embodiments of the invention, it is intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Furthermore, it is understood that any of the features presented in the embodiments may be integrated into any of the other embodiments unless explicitly stated otherwise. The scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
In addition, the present invention has been described with reference to embodiments, it should be noted and understood that various modifications and variations can be crafted by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure should be interpreted as illustrative only and is not to be interpreted in a limiting sense. Further it is intended that any other embodiments of the present invention that result from any changes in application or method of use or operation, method of manufacture, shape, size, or materials which are not specified within the detailed written description or illustrations contained herein are considered within the scope of the present invention.
Insofar as the description above and the accompanying drawings disclose any additional subject matter that is not within the scope of the claims below, the inventions are not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more applications to claim such additional inventions is reserved.
Although very narrow claims are presented herein, it should be recognized that the scope of this invention is much broader than presented by the claim. It is intended that broader claims will be submitted in an application that claims the benefit of priority from this application.
While this invention has been described with respect to at least one embodiment, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16950921 | Nov 2020 | US |
| Child | 18438494 | US |
