A METHOD TO COMBAT MICROBES

Abstract: The invention relates to a method to combat the harmful fungus growth in the paper mill processing waters, whereby bacteria belonging to the families Pseudomonas or Enterobacter, isolated from the circulation waters of the mills or from elsewhere, are added into the processing waters.

Description: A Method to Combat Microbes The invention relates to a method for suppressing by a natural way the fungi interfering chemical woodworking industry processes. The processing waters used in chemical woodworking industry offer advantageous growing conditions for micro-organisms, bacteria in particular but also for fungi. These processing waters contain nutrient substances that are advantageous for the growing con¬ ditions of micro-organisms and offer otherwise suitable conditions for growth. The acidity degree (pH 7 to 8) is close to neutral and favours bacteria growth, whenas the acid pH range (pH 5 to 6) is advantageous for fungi. The temperature of the processing waters of paper and board machines, very often in the range of 40 to 60°C, is very suitable for many microbes, for bacteria in particular. The fungal growth usually stops at about 50°C or just above. It has been observed in practice that it is possible to produce high quality paper and board even when the bacteria concentration of the circulating waters are rather high (10 7 to 10 8 per ml) . Microbes interfering the production process of paper and board may sometimes appear in the midst of a conventional bacteria popula¬ tion. Most disadvantages for production, and above all for driving, are caused by filamented fungi and bacteria with a tendency to form interfering clusters. The fungi have a central role as factors interfering with the drivability. Cases where the filamented bacteria have formed cluster frames have been observed more rarely. The mycocelial filaments accumulate a.o. fibers, fibrils, resins, bacteria and filling materials plus colour particles. Sometimes the clusters are slimy. Without these frame-builders of clusters the produc- tivity of paper and board machines would be better than today. To combat these microbes causing clusters, special chemicals, microbicides, are used and they are efficient against the interfering microbes but also against the microbes that do not interfere with production. Other disadvantages of chemical microbicides are there toxicity for humans and animals and the possible rests in paper and board. The present invention is based on the idea that the fast-growing and harmless bacteria might be useful, from the point of view of the microbicide activities, as they conquer living space from the slower growing fungi, thus forming an obstacle to their growth. So far, to any¬ body's knowledge, there is no such chemical the influence of which could be directed solely against the interfering microbes so that they would not have any influence on the other microbes as well. Surprisingly, it has now been observed that in combat¬ ting the most harmful interfering microbes, namely the fungi, harmless, fast-growing bacteria may be used. The ability of bacteria to suppress the growth of fungi may be based on several mechanisms. One of them is the faster growth of bacteria ih comparison with the fungi, whereby they are able to replace the fungi in their common growth environments by the way well know in microbiology. Another way of influencing are the metabolism products or metabolites excreted by the mentioned bacteria that are harmful for the fungi. These can suppress the growth of the fungi. The third way of influencing are the enzymes produced by the bacteria, for example the lytic enzymes like chitinases decom¬ posing the cell walls of the fungi. The objective of the invention is to utilize as natural¬ ly as possible the bacteria of the process water itself. There are several alternatives to choose from. One of the possibilities is chemical, comprising the choice of a chemical microbicide not effective against the sup- pressing bacteria but effective against the harmful microbes. In this way the growth of the suppressing bacteria would be enhanced and this in turn would weaken the growth possibilities of the interfering fungi. This alternative is a modification of the chemical method used today and cannot be considered a natural one. Unfortunately, most combatting chemicals have a wide range of effectiveness and that is why finding the right combatting substance means continous balancing between effectiveness and harmful effects. The objective of the present invention is to provide a natural control method that is more selective than the previous art. According to the invention, it is possible to inject into the circulating waters, at suitable intervals, suppressing bacteria to suppress the growth of fungi and filamented bacteria that can be produced in the fer entor. In advance, these bacteria have to be proved harmless from the point of view of the production process. The advantageous suppressing bacteria to be used in the method according to the invention include some Pseudomonas and Enterobacter bacteria with strong growth characteristics, having been observed to be able to suppress in an efficient way the growth of yeast and mildew fungi, and in optimum cases even to destroy them. The suppressing bacteria used in the method according to the invention have been isolated from the circulation waters of paper and board mills. The suppressing bacterium Pseudomonas antimicrobica base is available in the NCIMB storing facility by the storage number 9898. The suppressing bacteria shoud be added to the con¬ centration at the rate of 10 2 per millilitre. The natural method according to the invention is described in a more detailed way in the following examples. Example 1 The suppressing bacteria were isolated from the circula- tion waters of paper and board mills by using a Difcon culture base with the following composition: It was incubated on plate 2 days in a temperature of 37°C by using the filter diaphragm method. The fungi (yeast and mildew fungi) were also isolated from the circulation waters of paper and board mills by using a MYGP culture base: It was incubated 3 to 5 days in a temperature of 30°C by using the filter diaphragm method. Example 2 In the study, the ability of the bacteria from the circulation waters to suppress the growth of the fungi in a lean nutrient diluent was tested. The bacteria and the fungi were given similar possibilities to growth by transplanting them to grow simultaneously. A) Bacteria isolated from the circulation water of a board mill (the concentration of the most common bacteria in the circulation waters was in the range of 10 7 per ml and that of the rare ones of 10 3 per ml) were transplanted, each one of the six different ones, to grow during three days in a lean nutrient diluent with the following composition (mg per litre) : The added amounts of the suppressing bacteria was 10 4 to 4xl0 5 per ml. Simultaneously, yeast fungi isolated from the circulation of the same mill were transplanted to the culture diluent of each bacterium. Only yeast fungi were transplanted to the reference diluent. Incubation was carried out in 30°C (examples 2, 3, 4A, and 4F) and in 37°C (examples 4C to 4E) in Erlenmeyer flasks (50 ml of diluent in flasks of 100 ml) . In Example 4B the temperature was 25°C. The bacteria and yeast concentrations were redefined after the incubation. The results are shown in Fig. 1. The yeast fungus grew extraordinarily well in the reference experiment, reaching a concentration of about lθ 8 per ml in one day. On the contrary, the yeast fungi were destroyed when all of the three bacteria were present and its concentration stayed in all cases under 10 per ml. The suppressing bacteria used were determined as follows: Pseudomonas alali enes and Enterobacter agqlomerans. B) The experiment was performed in the same way as in point A but now the microbe to be suppressed was, instead of the yeast fungus, a mildew fungus from the same board mill. The suppressing bacteria were the same. Bacteria were added to the concentration by 10 4 to 5xl0 4 per ml and incubated 5 days in the nutrient diluent. The results are shown in Fig. 2. The bacterium 242 is E. agqlomerans, the bacterium 243 is P. pseudoalcaliqenes and the bacterium 246 is E. agqlomerans. The mildew fungus of the reference experiment easily grew to a concentration of about 10 5 per ml in the nutrient diluent. Its growt was clearly slowed down by the bacteria, the bacteria base 243 (P. pseudoalali- qenes) in particular. The difference compared with the reference was at its biggest by the 3rd day, more than 3 log units, staying by 5 days at about 1 log unit. In practice, a growth suppression of 3 days is, however, fully sufficient. Using microbicides, such a long-time influence cannot be achieved by just one dose. Example 2 shows that the bacteria Pseudomonas and Enterobacter, with their strong growth characteristics, are able to suppress, in an efficient way, the growth of both yeast and mildew fungi, and in an optimised case, even to destroy them. Example 3 Deviating from the methods shown in Example 2, in this experiment such a method was used whereby the bacteria were left to grow one night in the nutrient diluent, having then a concentration of bacteria of lθ 7 to 10 9 per ml. After this, the yeast fungus to be co batted was mixed in and grown 2 days in 30°C. This was to simulate a situation whereby an interference fungus from the same circulation water tries to conquer space amongst the abounding bacteria population of the circulation waters. At this stage, the microbes were given a nutrient refill (the same nutrients as in Example 1) . The results are shown in Fig. 3. The yeast fungus grew well in the re- ference but, in the presence of the bacteria base 273 (Pseudomonas Cepacia) it did not grow at all, and in 1 to 2 days it was totally destroyed. This indicates that the respective suppressing bacterium was especially strong. The bacteria base 274 is Enterobacter agqlomerans. the same as the base 275. From these results it is possible to draw the conclusion that even the method comprising the primary growth of the bacterium works well. Example 4 In this experiment, a groundwood pulp from the said board mill was used. Its consistency was adjusted to 2%. The age of the groundwood pulp in this experiment was 1 to 17 weeks. The groundwood pulp was sterilized and the suppressing bacteria isolated from the same mill were transplanted in it to grow one day beforehand. Then the fungus to be combatted was transplanted to the groundwood pulp. The reference consisted of the fungus alone in sterile groundwood pulp. A) The yeast fungus to be combatted and the suppressing bacteria were the same as in Example 2A where all of the bacteria were capable of destroying the yeast fungus completely (see Fig. 1) . The initial concentration of the suppressing bacteria was 2xl0 3 to 5xl0 4 per ml. Grown 3 days in the temperature of 30°C, pH about 5. The same bacteria did not work as well in the sterile groudwood pulp. Best in slowing down the growth of yeast was the base 246 E. agglomerans (Fig. 4) that was suppressing the growth during two days and nights. The bacteria base 421 also is E. agglomerans. In comparison with Example 2A, in this experiment in¬ cluding groundwood pulp, an ageing growth base, among others, was used and evidently it did not include a sufficient amount of nutrients for the proper functioning of the suppressing bacteria or for their multiplication. In practice, a continuous flow of nutrient additions is flowing to the circulation waters, among others, along with fresh groundwood pulp. B) When the experiment in point A was performed by using mildew as the fungus to be combatted, it was observed that the method worked better against mildew (Fig. 5) than against yeast (Fig. 4) . The initial concentration of bacteria was 6x10 per ml. Grown 5 days and nights in the temperature of 25°C, pH being about 5. At its best, the effect given by the bacteria base 244 (Pseudomonas maltophilia) was just over 1 log units. C) In this experiment (Fig. 6) the bacterium Pseudomonas antimicrobica NCIMB 9898, well known in plant protec- tion, was used as the suppressing bacterium. The initial concentration was 8xl0 4 per ml. Three yeasts from a board mill were used as the fungi to be combatted. Grown 6 days and nights in the temperature of 37°C, pH being about 5. The reference yeasts grew well in the ground¬ wood pulp up to a concentration of 10 6 to 10 7 per ml. The Pseudomonas bacterium alone grew to the concentration of about 10 7 per ml in the pulp. When it was present the yeasts did not grow at all. The concentrations of the yeasts remained under 10 2 per ml during the experiment (5 days) . D) In this experiment (Fig. 7) the combatting result of P. antimicrobica against the yeast bases 267 and 269 was not as good as in that of the experiment B used against yeast bases. The best result was achieved against yeast 267. The suppressing influence was maintained during 1 " to 2 days. E) In this experiment, the ability of P. antimicrobica to suppress the growth of the yeasts from different mills in the pulp was tested. It was observed that I\_ antimicrobica worked excellently against four yeast fungi from different mills (Fig. 8) . During the presence of this bacterium, the yeast concentrations remained under the level of 10 2 per ml, whenaε the respective reference concentrations were in the range of 10 6 to 10 8 per ml. F) In this experiment, the ability of P. antimicrobica to suppress the growth of paper mill mildews in the pulp was tested, the bacterium having grown 1 day in advance in the pulp. The bacterium suppressed well the growth of the mildews in the pulp (Fig. 9) . In one case, the sup¬ pressing influence stayed at 2 log units but in the two other cses the mildews did not grow at all in the presence of the suppressing bacteria. The families of the yeast and mildew fungi used in the experiments are not identified.

Claims: Claims 1. A method to combat the growth of harmful fungi in the factory process waters, c h a r a c t e r i z e d by the fact that bacteria belonging to the Pseudomonas or the Enterobacter families, harmless from the point-of- view of the production and isolated from the process waters or from elsewhere, are added to the process waters. 2. A method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z e d by that the bacterium is the Pseudomonas anti¬ microbica NCIMB 9898. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d by that the bacteria are added up to the concentration of at least 10 2 per ml. 4. A method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z d by that the fungus is a mildew or yeast fungus. 5. A method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r ¬ i z d by that the suppressing bacteria are added to groundwood pulp.

Inventors: VAEAETAENEN PENTTI, VAEAETAENEN, PENTTI
Applicants: KEMIRA OY
Application year: 1992
Main classification: C02F1
IPC codes: A01N63, C02F3, D21H17, D21H21