MgO coated magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles with fast and efficient phosphorus removal performance and excellent pH stability.

A regenerable MgO-coated magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 (FSM) composite effectively avoided the agglomeration of nano-MgO, which was resoundingly used for efficient and rapid phosphorus removal from aqueous solutions. Based on an initial screening of synthesized FSM with different Mg/citric acid molar ratios in terms of phosphorus adsorption capacity, an FSM composite with a Mg-citric acid molar ratio of 1:1 (FSM-1:1) was determined as the optimal choice. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the prepared Fe3O4 was triumphantly loaded and the nano-MgO nanoparticles were evenly distributed on the surface of magnetic mesoporous silica. N2 adsorption-desorption experiments manifested that FSM-1:1 had a large specific surface area of 124.3 m2/g and the pore size distribution calculated based on the BJH model was centered at 9.36 nm. Furthermore, FSM-1:1 not only exhibited fast adsorption kinetics (60 min) but also had a high maximum theoretical adsorption capacity of 223.6 mg P/g, which was superior to all the other Mg-based adsorbents. Remarkably, due to the coating of MgO, FSM-1:1 exhibited ultra-high stability in the pH range of 3-11, a wider range than many other Mg-modified sorbents. Our adsorbents also showed excellent selectivity for phosphate anions even in the presence of various coexisting anions (e. g. NO3-, Cl- and SO42-) with varying ionic strengths (0.01 and 0.1 M), good recyclability, the removal rate of phosphate still reached 89.0% after three cycles. Electrostatic attraction, Lewis acid-base interaction and the ligand exchange between Mg-OH and phosphate anions were responsible for the phosphate adsorption mechanisms.

The effects of offshore petroleum exploitation on microbial community and antibiotic resistome of adjacent marine sediments.

The exploitation of petroleum in offshore areas is becoming more prosperous due to the increasing human demand for oil. However, the effects of offshore petroleum exploitation on the microbial community in the surrounding environment are still not adequately understood. In the present study, variations in the composition, function, and antibiotic resistance of the microbial community in marine sediments adjacent to an offshore petroleum exploitation platform were analyzed by a metagenomics-based method. Significant shifts in the microbial community composition were observed in sediments impacted by offshore petroleum exploitation. Nitrosopumilales was enriched in marine sediments with the activities of offshore petroleum exploitation compared to the control sediments. The abundances of function genes involved in carbon, butanoate, methane, and fatty acid metabolism in sediment microbial communities also increased due to the offshore petroleum exploitation. Offshore petroleum exploitation resulted in the propagation of some antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), including a multidrug transporter, smeE, and arnA, in marine sediments via horizontal gene transfer mediated by class I integrons. However, the total abundance and diversity of ARGs in marine sediments were not significantly affected by offshore petroleum exploitation. This study is the first attempt to analyze the impact of offshore petroleum exploitation on the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Effect on sludge disintegration by EDTA-enhanced thermal-alkaline treatment.

Sludge disintegration is an effective pretreatment to enhance the biodegradability of sludge. At present, the thermal-alkaline is one of the most commonly used methods, but it has a massive consumption of energy and chemical reagents. EDTA-enhanced thermal-alkaline treatment was used to strengthen the dewatered sludge disintegration at mid-low temperature in this study. Results showed that the dissolving-out quantity of soluble chemical oxygen demand and the volatile solid (VS) in residual sludge in the EDTA-added group were 14.7% higher and 7% lower than those in control system without EDTA, respectively, indicating that EDTA addition improved the performance of sludge disintegration. The addition of EDTA loosened the floc structure and enhanced the hydrolyzability of dissolved organic matters (DOM) with a narrower distribution of the relative molecular weight. The membrane damage of microbial cells in EDTA-added group reached 73.3% after 120 min, which was much higher than that in the control group (31.9%). EDTA contains a large number of hydrogen bond acceptors and could form hydrogen bonds with alcohols and phenols in solubilization products and DOM. It was speculated that the mechanism of EDTA-enhanced sludge disintegration was related to the formation of hydrogen bonds between EDTA and organic matter inside and outside the cell. PRACTITIONER POINTS: The addition of EDTA facilitated the thermal-alkali cracking of dewatered sludge. EDTA increased the particle size of sludge and enhanced the hydrolysis of DOM. The strengthening effect mainly occurred at the beginning of TB-EPS dissolving slowly. Hydrogen bond played important roles in the enhanced disintegration of sludge by EDTA.

Effects of sludge lysate for Cr(VI) bioreduction and analysis of bioaugmentation mechanism of sludge humic acid.

This study evaluated the effects of sludge lysate (SL) on the anaerobic bioreduction of Cr(VI) and the role of sludge humic acid (SHA) during this process. The results showed that supplement of SL significantly enhanced the efficiency of Cr(VI) bioreduction by 29.61%, in 12 h compared with that of the control without SL. Moreover, SHA exhibited promoting effects on bioreduction of Cr(VI), and the promotion increased with increasing SHA concentrations from 100 to 300 mg/L. In the presence of 300 mg/L SHA, Cr(VI) (98.21 mg/L) was completely reduced after 24 h with a removal rate increased by 34.3% compared with that of the control without SHA. Further investigation on the bioaugmentation mechanism of SHA by studying the nature of SHA and the reaction mechanism between SHA and Cr(VI) revealed that SHA exhibited a strong adsorption ability, which could adsorb and combine with Cr(VI). The adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) by SHA was calculated as 34.4 mg/g with 0.2 g of SHA and 10 mg/L of Cr(VI). It could also act as redox mediators to accelerate the electron transfer between microorganisms and Cr(VI) to promote reduction of Cr(VI). Furthermore, the effects of SL on the microbial community compositions of the anaerobic Cr(VI) bioreduction system were studied. Brachymonas was the primary bacteria at the genus level. The abundance of electroactive bacteria, such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Arcobacter, increased in the SL-amended system. These findings expand the versatility of SL and justify wider use of residual activated sludge, which might contribute to the treatment of heavy metal-contaminated wastewater.

Effects of nano-sized MnO2 on methanogenic propionate and butyrate degradation in anaerobic digestion.

The responses of methanogenic propionate and butyrate degradation to nano-sized MnO2 exposure were explored. The results showed that supplementation with 50 mg/g volatile suspended solids (VSS) of nano-sized MnO2 significantly enhanced the production rate of CH4 in propionate and butyrate degradation by 25.6% and 21.7%, respectively. The stimulatory effects most likely resulted from enhancements in the microbial metabolic activity based on the observed increases in the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) secretion and activity of the electron transport system. In contrast, the CH4 yields obtained were irreversibly inhibited by the presence of 400 mg/g VSS of nano-sized MnO2, in which just 62.8% and 6.5%, respectively, of the yield obtained from the control. Further investigations indicated that supplementation by nano-sized MnO2 could cause oxidative stress in microbial cells, resulting in the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Compared with that of the control, the amount of intracellular ROS generated in the systems increased by 28.3% (fed with propionate) and 42.5% (fed with butyrate), corresponding to approximately 43.9% and 64.8% losses in cell viability, respectively; thus, ROS generation was suggested to be the main factor responsible for the inhibitory effects of nano-sized MnO2 on methanogenic propionate and butyrate degradation.

CO2 Fixation, Lipid Production, and Power Generation by a Novel Air-Lift-Type Microbial Carbon Capture Cell System.

An air-lift-type microbial carbon capture cell (ALMCC) was constructed for the first time by using an air-lift-type photobioreactor as the cathode chamber. The performance of ALMCC in fixing high concentration of CO2, producing energy (power and biodiesel), and removing COD together with nutrients was investigated and compared with the traditional microbial carbon capture cell (MCC) and air-lift-type photobioreactor (ALP). The ALMCC system produced a maximum power density of 972.5 mW·m(-3) and removed 86.69% of COD, 70.52% of ammonium nitrogen, and 69.24% of phosphorus, which indicate that ALMCC performed better than MCC in terms of power generation and wastewater treatment efficiency. Besides, ALMCC demonstrated 9.98- and 1.88-fold increases over ALP and MCC in the CO2 fixation rate, respectively. Similarly, the ALMCC significantly presented a higher lipid productivity compared to those control reactors. More importantly, the preliminary analysis of energy balance suggested that the net energy of the ALMCC system was significantly superior to other systems and could theoretically produce enough energy to cover its consumption. In this work, the established ALMCC system simultaneously achieved the high level of CO2 fixation, energy recycle, and municipal wastewater treatment effectively and efficiently.

Microbial population responses to pH and salt shock during phenols degradation under high salt conditions revealed by RISA and AFDRA.

The responses of microbial community to pH and salt shock during phenols degradation under high salt conditions were revealed by two DNA fingerprint methods, i.e. ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA) and amplified functional DNA restriction analysis (AFDRA), together with 16S rDNA clone library analysis. It was shown that the phenols removal rate was improved with increasing NaCl concentration from 0 to 50 mg/L, and could remain at a high level even in the presence of 100 mg/L NaCl. The degradation efficiency remained stable under neutral conditions (pH 7.0-9.0), but decreased sharply under acidic (below pH 5.0) or more alkaline conditions (above pH 10.0). The community structure was dramatically changed during salt fluctuations, with Halomonas sp. and Marinobacter sp. as the predominant salt-tolerant species. Meanwhile, Marinobacter sp. and Alcaligenes faecalis sp. were the major species which might play the key role for stabilizing the treatment systems under different pH conditions. Moreover, the changes of phenol hydroxylase genes were analyzed by AFDRA, which showed that these functional genes were substantially different under any shock conditions.

Characteristics of nitrogen and phosphorus removal in a sequencing batch reactor.

Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to study the characteristics of N and P removal under different influent organic carbon concentration in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with simple anaerobic/aerobic operating mode. Experimental results indicated that, under the operating condition of influent N concentration of 89 mg/L and P concentration of 15 mg/L, when the influent C/N ratio increased from 1.5 to 6.9 (influent C/P ratio from 9 to 41), total N and P removal efficiency improved from 50% and 46% to 78% and 96% respectively. Track studies of N, P and other operating parameters demonstrated that N removal of the SBR was realized through simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) in the aeration phase and anoxic denitrificaiton in the filling phase, P removal was accomplished through conventional anaerobic P release and aerobic P taken-up process. Keeping dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration during the first two aeration hours as low as 0.1-0.6 mg/L is essential for the simultaneous occurrences of nitrification, denitrification and P-taken up.

United membrane biological reactor in the treatment of wastewater.

The united membrane biological reactor( UMBR) was studied for the treatment of some simulate and municipal wastewater. The removal efficiency for COD and turbidity are greater than 80% and 99% respectively. Effluent COD is less than 100 mg/L while turbidity less than 5. The removal of LAS in bath wastewater is greater than 70%. In treatment of dinning-hall wastewater, removal of fatty oil is greater than 90%, and its concentration in effluent is less than 5 mg/L. The match of biological reactor and the membrane separation component were calculated. The stable performance of wastewater treatment can be maintained by the optimization of operation conditions and the cleanout of membranes.