FAMU signs agreement to create ecologically engineered energy-water-waste facility

April 12, 2017

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- Oysters are known as the original eco-engineers, said, Robin Olin, the C.E.O. and chairman of Panacea Oyster Coop Corporation. He said, "When they're in the water, over 2,000 other species are able to survive because of their filtering ability."

Olin says FAMU's new endeavor will help with their survival.

"If we want to have healthy waters, clean waters, because everything interfaces with the next thing, nothing stands alone, we've got to start cleaning up this water. Also, by the way, one inch of oyster bed offsets one foot of sea surge." Said, Olin.

Wednesday, FAMU's provost and other administrators signed a partnership agreement with Biopolus Institute based in Budapest, Hungary. The company's wastewater system uses technology that improves water quality, lowers cost, and reduces odors.

Dr. Victor Ibeanusi, the FAMU Dean of School of Environment, said, "We can train our students to become the next leaders. So, that's the premise of this MOU."

The partnership will help FAMU develop a Metabolic Hub. The facility will treat and recycle wastewater... plus provide space for research and development.

Timothy Moore, FAMU Vice President of Research, said, "We believe that this technology that this man, this group has put together, are absolutely ideal for the state of Florida. We can actually begin to recover, recycle, repair damage that has been done over time; because we're relying on mid-19th century's sewage treatment process, and that is what's causing the problems we're having in the bay."

FAMU administrators say this partnership is the first U.S. partnership.

FAMU will join countries such as Hungary, France, China, India, and Indonesia that are participating in the innovation.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida A&M University (FAMU) and the Biopolus Institute will celebrate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will foster the development of a Metabolic Hub at FAMU via its EnergyWaterFood Nexus enterprise.

FAMU Interim Provost Rodner Wright, FAMU School of the Environment Dean Victor Ibeanusi, Ph.D., and Biopolus CEO Istvan Kenyeres will participate in the signing, which will take place tomorrow, April 12, at 10 a.m., in the Academic Affairs Conference Room, located on the third floor of Lee Hall (1601 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.).

The Metabolic Hub is a beautifully-designed, ecologically-engineered, energy-water-waste service center that focuses on sewage treatment, renewable energy, bio-waste processing and biological manufacturing. The Hub is an integrated smart facility that combines water reuse with resource and energy recovery, essentially closing the water, energy and waste loops.

FAMU will join countries like Hungary, France, China, India, and Indonesia that are participating in this innovation.

Kenyeres, the innovator behind the Metabolic Hub, is based in Hungary and is a chemical engineer and biotechnologist. He holds the Silver Merit Cross from the president of Hungary for the modernization of the Hungarian environmental industry.