1. Industries based on Microorganisms, their processes and products Microbial technology/ Industrial Biotechnology In Sri Lanka
Professor S. Widanapathirana
Senior professor of Microbiology
University of Kelaniya , 2005

2. Introduction
The field of industrial biotechnology based on microbial processes microorganisms, their products (Microbial technology) has moved very fast all over the world during the last 03 decades. Rapid achievements have been made in the application of recombinant DNA technology in microbial technology.
Biotechnological applications based on microbial technology have great potential for developing countries in improving their health, food production environmental management, in agriculture and creating new jobs.
In Sri Lanka there are few industries based on microbial technology . Basically the following categories are recognized. The details given for each is not based on a large scale survey.
The objective of this paper is to identify the type of industries presently available in Sri Lanka, and the need for further development (justification for further development) and limitations of expansion.

3. Industries based on microorganisms their processes and products.
Fermentation Biotechnology
Dairy industries
Curd / Yoghurt
Butter
Cheese
Alcohol/ based industries
Beer
Wine
Toddy
Ethyl alcohol
Vinegar
Arrack and spirits
Environmental Biotechnology
Water and waste water treatment industries
Solid waste management industries (re-cycling waste), composting biogas
Bioremediation
Agricultural Biotechnology
Biofertilizers
Biopesticides
Composting
Pharmaceuticals / health care products
Antibiotics
Steroids
Vaccines
Probiotics
Food supplements
Molecular Diagnostics

4. Fermentation Biotechnology
(A). Dairy Industry
Introduction and present Industries in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka. dairy biotechnology is confined to cottage industries, small and medium scale industries and large scale multinational industries. Generally production of curd is a cottage industry , but large scale companies such as Kothmale Dairy industry also produces curd to the retail market. Yogurt industry also operates in similar lines Some cooperative societies also produce yoghurt and release it to the retail market

5. Market Leaders of Sri Lankan Dairy Industry
Rich life Limited
Pirivena Road, Molligoda, Wadduwa
Fresh Milk (Tetra Packs & Bottles)
Yogurt. Drinking Yogurt
Curd
Cow Ghee
Ice cream
New Zealand Milk Lanka (Pvt) Ltd
No 100, Delgoda Road, Biyagama
www. Newzealandmilk. com
New Dale Milk
New Dale set yogurt
Anchor milk powder (Full cream & non fat)
Anelene (High Calcium milk powder)
Ratthi milk powder (Full cream)
Anchor
Milco(Pvt) Ltd
No. 45. Nawala Road, Narahenpita, Colombo 05
Telephone :
Highland Milk Powder
Cheese
Butter
Ice cream
Milk Packets & Bottles
yoghurt
Kothmale Milk Production
20, Sisumana Mawatha, New town Mullariyawa.
Milk packets,
Ice Cream,
Cheese
Nestle Lanka Ltd
Nestle Lanka Ltd 440T.B.Jaya Mawatha ,Colombo 10.
Milk Maid
Nespray milk powder
Nido Milk powder
Ceylon Cold Stores
Ceylon Cold Stores, Kaduwela, Ranala,
Telephone
Ice Cream

6. SWOT Analysis for Sri Lankan dairy industry
Strengths
Dairy products have a high demand in the market from the ancient days.
High nutritional value of dairy products leads to popularization among people.
Well-established brand name can win customers easily.
Today the customers are very well focused on 'Quality' of a product. Availability of cheap labor.

7. Weaknesses Lack of usage of modern machinery.
Most of the processes are carried out manually; it can lead to contamination and wastage.
Lack of Research and development activities. Even market leaders of Sri Lankan Market are not involved in research work.
E.g. In Sri Lankan market probiotic applications are not very common.
Gene technology and its applications are rarely applied in Sri Lanka.
Waste treatments are not carried out in an efficient manner.
Most of the dairy product containers are non degradable and non recyclable. It is a root cause for environmental pollution
JIT system cannot be carried out in a developing country like Sri Lanka, due to lack of infrastructure facilities.
Some times manufacturing processing is carried out at under-capacity. Due to interference caused by raw material supply and high machine lead-time.

8. Opportunities
Manual process should be-eliminated and modern technological equipment can be used. It eliminates contamination and enhances the quality of the product.
Employing knowledgeable people can lead to function R&D in line with modern technology, like genetic engineering.
Quality assurance techniques can be well developed to ensure a well-developed product.
Threats
Entrance of new competitors to the market.
If waste products are not well treated environmental friendly organizations can rise against the industry.

9. (b) Alcohol / based industries Introduction and present status in Sri Lanka.
There are a large number of alcohol / based industries which are mainly run by private individuals and private companies. Beer, toddy, vinegar and arrack / spirits industries are fairly well established, but the Sri Lankan contribution varies, due to imports.
The raw materials needed for Beer industry are imported where as the other industries rely on local materials such as sugar cane molasses, coconut toddy etc.. There is no wide scale wine industry in Sri Lanka, it is mainly a cottage industry, which uses coconut water, fruit juices as raw materials.
The alcohol industry is mainly run by, Pelawatta sugar company at Monaragala and Sevenagala sugar company. According to a reasonable estimate Pelawatta supplies about 10 millions liters and Sevanagala supplies about 03 millions liters of alcohol to the local market annually. In addition distilleries corporation imports alcohol, for blending into potable spirits.
It is estimated that the local industries produce only about 60% -70% of the alcohol need of the country and that there is room for further improvement.
Currently sugar industry produces excess of molasses, which is the main source of for fermentation production of alcohol. The technology involved is batch fermentation and distillation. Expansion of sugar industry, increasing facilities for molasses storage, new technology for improved fermentation will assist the industry, to achieve self sufficiency in alcohol, and further development of industries based an alcohol.

10. (B) Environmental Biotechnology (Environmental Applications)
Introduction and present Industries in Sri Lanka
As a developing country effective and efficient waste management is emphasized by government authorities. Legislation forces industries to manage their wastes.
Most of municipal wastes are dumped in to law value lands without proper management.
Most of industries are build up with there own waste treatment plans due to lack of proper central waste treatment systems within the country.
In Sri Lanka Central Environmental Authority (CEA) plays a major role in protecting the environment. The CEA, the regulatory body for environment was established in In the recent past, the need for a separate ministry for environment was highlighted and as a result the Ministry of Forestry and Environment was established in 1997.
Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI), the national standards body has formulated a number of standards relating to environmental protection such as tolerance limits for effluent discharge from various industries.
The ISO series, in broad sense, is defined as a systematic approach to meeting environmental obligations. The ISO series includes six main topical areas. ISO standards does not set requirements for any environmental aspect such as emissions or discharges. Instead organizations established their own targets of control based on current performance data or to comply with regulatory requirement.
EMS (Environmental Management Systems) certification is voluntary certification
scheme of SLSI to support industry to comply with the requirements of the ISO14001standard and to demonstrate company's commitment to environmental protection. More than thirty qualified EMS auditors support the SLSI EMS certification scheme.

11. Many SLS standards for waste discharging have been established.
In the international field the Bureau of Ceylon Standards represent Sri Lanka in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and will participate in such field of standardization.
Many SLS standards for waste discharging have been established.
SLS effluents industrial tolerance Limits (SLS year book 1999)
SLS 652:1984 Tolerance limits for industrial effluents discharged in to inland surface waters. Prescribes tolerance limits and methods of sampling and test for industrial effluents discharge in to inland surface waters.
SLS 721:1985 Tolerance limits for industrial and domestic effluents discharged into marine costal areas. Prescribed tolerance limits and methods of sampling and test for industrial and domestic effluents discharged in to marine costal areas.
The major problem caused for environmental pollution is the increase in dumping of wastes due to increasing population and Industrialization. The Safety of drinking water is also questioned with increasing environmental pollution.

12. In the industries in Sri Lanka
Liquid waste management
Due to much concern in water and waste water as well as solid waste management, many consultant services and industries are established in private sector now in Sri Lanka. These companies supply equipment to wastewater treatment plants, act as consultants, designers etc.
Biological treatment is one of the operational units in a wastewater treatment facility. Therefore some companies import bio-formulations to carry out bioremediation processes.
Solid waste management
Much of urban solid waste composed of glass, metal and plastic but the remainder is decomposable organic wastes such as households and industrial garbage.
In highly populated urban centers and areas of large scale agricultural production, the disposal of massive amount of organic wastes has become a problem

13. There are several options for dealing with solid waste problem.
Processes available for solid waste management are;
Physical process
Pelletisation
Biochemical / Microbial process
Aerobic composting
Anaerobic digestion
Vermiculture
Thermal process
Incineration
Gasification
Most effective solid waste management methods depends on microbial technology;
Anaerobic (Sanitary) Land Filling
Composting

14. Sanitary Land Filling
The land fill technology can very effectively be utilized for disposing municipal solid waste that has relatively a high organic content. In this case, solid waste are deposited in low lying, low value sites, compressed and covered by a layer of soil. Thus the land fill sites act as bioreactors.
composting
Composting is an aerobic, microbially driven process that converts solid organic wastes in to a stable humus-like material that has been considerably reduced in bulk and can be safely returned to the environment as fertilizers.

15. Widely known consultant services and industries are mentioned below.

16. Industry associated Water/Waste water Treatment Plants

17. What are the needs in Sri Lanka?
As a developing country, with increasing urbanization and industrialization, the
environmental management will be a profitable investment in Sri Lanka.
Therefore study of environmental Biotechnology will be very helpful in future
aspect as industries will seek for qualified persons to recruit.
To study the involvement of microbial biotechnology in water purification.
To study the involvement of microbial biotechnology in waste water and solid waste management.
To study the recent applications of microbial technology in Sri Lanka in relation to environment protection.
To identify the global requirements on environment management with microbial biotechnology.
To identify potential development in the field of environmental biotechnology
One of the new trends in environmental technology is to reduce waste production
(waste minimization programmes and eco design for products) from various
processes. In Sri Lanka The National cleaner production center provides training
and advice on these aspects .

18. SWOT Analysis for Environmental Management
Strengths
New standards are introduced to the industries.
Government also provides rules and regulations with regard to environmental protection for registration of the industry.
A favorable condition for the microbiological process is given by natural environmental conditions.
Availability of knowledge knowledgeable work force.
Education system aims to produce environmental friendly new generation.
Cultures which are use for biological process can be obtained from natural sources.
No involvement of addition of synthetic chemicals/nutrients which are possible source of environmental contamination.

19. Weaknesses
At present most of the projects are operate at lower efficiency level due to the following
factors
Poor planning and coordination among responsible organization.
Use of inappropriate technology.
Law quality of output.
Poor management and collection method.
Lack of property qualified persons at local authority.
No waste analysis has been done before selecting the technology.
Opportunities
The following factors will enhance the industries objectives towards waste management.
Enhance the industrial process by legislation.(Legislation awareness)
Industries are supported by government.
Development of environmental conscious societies.
Treatments results in byproducts which are economically important. E.g. Bio-gas formation by waste digestion
Threats
Limited financing in developing countries. This includes costs of collection, storage, processing and removal of wastes.
Biological process could be interfered by non-digestible materials, radioactive compounds, toxic compounds, high concentration of organic matter etc.
An additional cost has to be spent to maintain the process.
Rapid increase of urbanization and industrialization. (The rate of waste production is much higher than the rate of biodegradation.)

20. (C) Agricultural Biotechnology (Applications in microbial technology in agriculture)
Introduction and present Industries in Sri Lanka
Modern agriculture in heavily dependant on fossil fuel based inputs such as inorganic
fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Such agricultural practices have caused problems of pollution,
deturiation of soil structure and properties.
Agricultural biotechnology based on microbial process offers an alternative practices of using
biofertilizer, biopesticides, organic fertilizer produced by composting. These products are already
available commercially in many countries.
Biofertilizers are natural fertilizers which are microbial inoculants of Bacteria, algae, fungi alone or in combinations. They enhance the availability of nutrients in soil and are environmentally friendly. Biofertilizers work in nature (soil) by
a. Biological Nitrogen fixation
b. Phosphate solubilization
Biopesticides are products based on living biological entities which are prone to decay in soil. They are classified in to Botanical pesticides and microbial pesticides.
Compost degraders (biodegraders) contain a cocktail of living degradative microorganisms which rapidly degrade wastes in to organic fertilizer

21. Present industries in Sri Lanka
There is no local industry which produces any of them commercially. But certain institutions individuals, organizations appear to either produce some of them in smaller scale or import them and distribute true a limited local network. However such products are widely used and are not available in large scale
Organizations engaged in Biofertilizer industry in Sri Lanka and their contact persons:

22. Needs in Sri Lanka
In a developing country like Sri Lanka local production of fertilizer is still not sufficient to meet the demand in agriculture. Sri Lanka also uses a wide variety of chemical pesticides. In agriculture both fertilizers and chemical pesticides are imported. In addition the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have caused many problems of environmental pollution. And degradation of soil. It is common knowledge that Sri Lanka spends a large sum of many importing chemical fertilizers and pesticides and development of biofertilizer and pesticide will be a great asset to the Agricultural sector.

23. (D) Pharmaceutical and Healthcare industry
Introduction and present Industries in Sri Lanka
Pharmaceutical products' are compounds that are used to cure diseases and to maintain sustainable health in humans. Pharmaceutical products are of two types, chemically synthesized Pharmaceuticals and biologically synthesized Pharmaceuticals. Most of the drugs in the market are produced by chemical synthesis and some produced by microbial processes generally known biopharmaceuticals. They are simply medically useful drugs whose manufacture involves microorganisms or substances that living organisms produced. These include products derived by fermentation technology and new technology like DNA recombinant technology, monoclonal antibodies, diagnostics and Vaccines etc...

24. Current Status in Sri Lanka
There are many pharmaceutical based companies in Sri Lanka. Most of them import drugs and pharmaceutical products from multinational drug companies worldwide and distribute throughout the country via their island wide distribution network.
A limited number of companies in Sri Lanka manufacture pharmaceutical drugs and healthcare products and that too are confined to a few.
It appears that it is cheaper for a country like Sri Lanka to import and distribute drugs rather than manufacture them locally. The lack of raw materials, machinery and the experts as well as trained personnel would automatically require obtaining them from abroad. This process would cost an enormous amount of money. To add to this there is still the lack of facilities to optimize and scale up the production,

26. SWOT analysis of pharmaceutical industry
Strengths
Good market- both government sector & private sector buyers and suppliers involved.
With the improvement of living, the quality conscious consumers pay more for good quality products
The development of private hospitals increases the level of demand of pharmaceutical products in commercial scale.
The current government policy of more private sector involvement in medical industry welcomes more suppliers to the market at competitive prices.
Weaknesses
Insufficient capital for investment in the industry.
The technical know-how is not sufficient.
The low level of research and development in the industry.
The Sri Lankan market is very small for a large-scale industry as Pharmaceuticals.
Popular brand names always get prominence over quality medium scale producers.
Higher education institutes not interested in this field of training.
Copyrights and patents further reduce the scope of industry.
There is no coordinating body in the region to enhance the exchange of knowledge and technology and to act in synergy)
There is no trend to encouragement for knowledge based industries.

27. Opportunities
The recognized brands do not have enough capacity to cater the demand. Therefore they outsource with the expansion. This is an opportunity for good quality producers in medium scale.
The investors have identified the industry as more stable thus willing to invest.
The people being more health conscious spend more on healthcare and pharmaceutical products.
Government sector meets 50% of its demand by imports which can be replaced by local products.
Threats
Dumping of low quality products to the market due to absence of a proper government monitoring policy.
Multinational firms do not allow local producers to market their products.
Lack of consumer trust on local products.
There will be difficulty of finding capital for research and development since it takes long time to get results and the possible high risk of failure.
The doctors prescribe multinational brand names under the influence of drug trade propaganda and for the benefits they get.
Patents have be obtained by other countries for our products due to our failure of registering them.

28. Thank you