Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory

LBE is a unique research facility that trains young researchers and high caliber personnel in the field of environmental biotechnology.

Our research is supplemented by that of our partners. A coordinating committee prioritizes projects and ensures that research is completed on time.

The Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory comprises:

• A Biosafety Level 1 fermentation laboratory, exclusively used for unconventional substrates and equipped with a series of bioreactors (2 x 5 L, 2 x15 L, 2 x150 L, 1 x 2000 L)
• A Biosafety Level 1 fermentation laboratory, exclusively used for conventional substrates and equipped with a series of bioreactors (2 x 5 L, 2 x15 L, 2 x150 L, 1 x 2000 L)
• Equipment for the upstream processing of unconventional fermentation substrates, including an industrial sieve and two hydrolyzers (150 and 2000 L – the latter can also be used as a 2000 L bioreactor)
• Equipment for semi-industrial downstream processing of fermented broths, including an industrial disk centrifuge, a microfiltration/ultrafiltration system, a spray dryer, an ion exchange chromatography system, and a freeze dryer
• An environmental chamber (Biosafety Level 2) for inoculant production and strain storage as well as quality control and characterization of purified microbial products
• An analytical laboratory equipped with a GC-MS, an LC-MS-MS, and a cytofluorometer for characterization of unconventional substrates, quality control of certain microbial products, and process monitoring.

LBE provides users with technical and R&D support. Our staff helps develop analysis methods, supervise students, and conduct fermentations and chemical and biological analyses at users’ request.

Our scientific staff can direct projects in the following areas:

• Treatment of organic waste and increasing its biodegradability
• Isolation of wild strains from organic waste
• Production of microbial and fungal biopesticides, microbial inoculants, industrial enzymes, bioplastics, and bio-hydrogen
• Study of aerobic and anaerobic fermentation parameters (culture media, strains, microorganisms, and growing conditions)
• Optimization of bioprocesses (experimental design, statistical analysis, fed-batch culture, etc.);
• Scale up of bioprocesses to 2000 L
• Concentration and recovery of microbial products on a semi-industrial scale through continuous or semi-continuous centrifugation, microfiltration, and ultrafiltration
• Semi-industrial formulation of microbial products in granular or powder form
• Semi-industrial purification of microbial products by ion-exchange chromatography or lyophilisation
• Feasibility, technical, and economic studies

In collaboration with the other laboratories at the INRS Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre, complementary services are provided to meet the specific needs of certain clients, including:

• Characterization of microbial flora in environmental matrices
• Analysis of toxic organic compounds by GC/MS or LC/MS/MS
• Design and fine tuning of methods for analyzing toxic organic compounds by GC/MS or LC/MS/MS
• Physical and chemical analyses of surface water, sediments, soil, groundwater, wastewater, and sewage sludge.

Please note that the laboratory provides its services in accordance with confidentiality rules. Please contact us for more information.

The research conducted at the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory focuses on producing value-added products using:

• Municipal, industrial, or agricultural waste as a basic substrate
• Fresh biomass and synthetic or conventional culture media
• New, genetically modified, or existing microbial strains
• New or existing industrial fermentation processes

The following bioproducts are a particular priority:

• microbial and fungal biopesticides
• microbial inoculants
• plant growth promoters
• industrial enzymes
• bioplastics and other biopolymers
• biofuels
• biosurfactants
• bio-hydrogen

The Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Government of Quebec.