Enhanced humification of full-scale apple wood and cow manure by promoting lignocellulose degradation via biomass pretreatments.

Agroforestry waste and cow manure pollute the environment, of which, agroforestry waste is difficult to degrade. Compost is an effective way to dispose agroforestry waste; however, the low degradation efficiency of lignocellulose in agroforestry waste affects the process of composting humification. This study investigated lignocellulose degradation and composting humification in full-size apple wood and cow manure composting processes by applying different pretreatments (acidic, alkaline, and high-temperature) to apple wood. Simultaneously, physicochemical characterization and metagenome sequencing were combined to analyze the function of carbohydrate-active enzymes database (CAZy). Therefore, microbial communities and functions were linked during the composting process and the lignocellulose degradation mechanism was elaborated. The results showed that the addition of apple wood increased the compost humus (HS) yield, and pretreatment of apple wood enhanced the lignocellulose degradation during composting processes. In addition, pretreatment improved the physicochemical properties, such as temperature, pH, electric conductivity (EC), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3-) in the compost, of which, acid treated apple wood compost (AcAWC) achieved the highest temperature of 58.4 °C, effectively promoting nitrification with NO3- ultimately reaching 0.127 g/kg. In all composts, microbial networks constructed a high proportion of positively correlated connections, and microorganisms promoted the composting process through cooperation. The proportions of glycosyltransferase (GT) and glycoside hydrolase (GH) promoted the separation and degradation of lignocellulose during composting to form HS. Notably, the adverse effects of the alkali-treated apple wood compost on bacteria were greater. AcAWC showed significant correlations between bacterial and fungal communities and both lignin and hemicellulose, and had more biomarkers associated with lignocellulose degradation and humification. The lignin degradation rate was 24.57 % and the HS yield increased by 27.49 %. Therefore, AcAWC has been confirmed to enhance lignocellulose degradation and promote compost humification by altering the properties of the apple wood and establishing a richer microbial community.

Enhanced removal of tetrabromobisphenol A by Burkholderia cepacian Y17 immobilized on biochar.

Biochar-immobilized bacteria have been widely used to remove organic pollutants; however, the enhanced effect of biochar-immobilized bacteria on tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) removal has not been fully investigated and the removal mechanism remains unclear. In this study, a bacterial strain with high TBBPA degradation ability, Burkholderia cepacian Y17, was isolated from an e-waste disassembly area, immobilized with biochar, and used for the removal of TBBPA. Comparisons were performed of the factors affecting the immobilization and TBBPA removal efficiency, including the biochar preparation temperature, immobilization temperature, and pH. The highest 7-day TBBPA removal efficiency by immobilized bacteria was observed with the most suitable biochar preparation temperature (BC500) and an immobilization pH and temperature of 7 and 35 °C, respectively. The TBBPA removal efficiency reached 59.37%, which was increased by 30.23% and 15.88% compared to that of free and inactivated immobilized Y17, respectively. The suitable biochar preparation temperature BC500, immobilization temperature of 35 °C, and neutral pH of 7 increased the bacterial population and extracellular polymer concentration, which facilitated bacterial immobilization on biochar and promoted TBBPA removal. In this case, the high immobilized bacteria concentration (4.62 × 108 cfu∙g-1) and protein and polysaccharide contents (28.43 and 16.16 mg·g-1) contributed to the removal of TBBPA by facilitating TBBPA degradation. The main TBBPA degradation processes by BC500-immobilized Y17 involved debromination, ß-scission, demethylation, O-methylation, hydroxylation, and hydroxyl oxidation. This study proposes a method for preparing immobilized bacteria for TBBPA removal and enriches the microbial degradation technology for TBBPA.