Metamaterial Inspired Varactor-Tuned Antenna with Frequency Reconfigurability and Pattern Diversity.

A metamaterial-inspired varactor-tuned antenna with frequency reconfigurability and pattern diversity is designed. Two different versions of a reconfigurable structure are integrated into a single antenna to excite two different orthogonal patterns, which realizes pattern diversity for MIMO applications. The outer annular Composite Right-/Left-Handed Transmission Line (CRLH-TL) works at the 1 mode and provides a broadside pattern, and the inner circular radiator loaded with split ring resonators (SRR) operates at the 0 mode and radiates an omnidirectional pattern, which realizes pattern diversity. By using surface-mounted varactors, the operating frequencies for the two radiation patterns can be tuned over a wide frequency range, from 1.7 GHz to 2.2 GHz, covering the 1.71-2.17 GHz LTE band, and a low mutual coupling between the two radiators is achieved. The antenna has also been prototyped. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulation results, verifying the proposed concept. The dual-mode MIMO system equipped with the proposed antenna elements is discussed within the context of a 3-D channel model, and it shows a superior array compactness and spectral efficiency (SE) performance compared to scenarios with single-mode elements.

Cr(VI) removal from wastewater using nano zero-valent iron and chromium-reducing bacteria.

Significant global efforts are currently underway to alleviate the presence of toxic metals in water bodies, aiming to encourage a sustainable environment. Nevertheless, the scientific community has yet to methodically inspect the performance and mechanisms underlying the interaction between nanomaterials and microorganisms in this context. Therefore, this study seeks to address this knowledge gap by developing a novel system that integrates nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) with chromium-reducing bacteria (CrRB) to efficiently remove Cr(VI) from water sources. The combined use of RBC600 and CrRB resulted in a Cr(VI) removal rate of 77.73%, displaying a substantial improvement of 17.61% compared to the use of CrRB alone. The efficacy of Cr(VI) elimination was observed to be affected by several factors within the system, such as the pH value, the quantity of nZVI added, the degree of CrRB inoculation, and the initial concentration of Cr(VI) at the onset of the experiment. When the pH was adjusted to 5, the complete removal of 200 mg/L Cr(VI) was achieved within 36 h. Increasing the dosage of nZVI to above 2 g/L resulted in the complete elimination of Cr(VI) from the solution within 72 h. This can be attributed to the availability of more reaction sites for the reduction of Cr(VI), facilitated by the higher nZVI dose. Additionally, the increased dose of nZVI allowed for the dissolution of more reactive Fe(II) ions. The characterization analysis, high-throughput sequencing, and fluorescence quantitative PCR results have established that CrRB and its extracellular polymer effectively reduce and complex Cr(VI). This process facilitated the dissolution of the passivated layer on the surface of nZVI, thus significantly enhancing the efficiency of nZVI in responding to Cr(VI). Additionally, the presence of nZVI created a favorable living environment for CrRB, resulting in increased richness and diversity within the CrRB community. These findings provide valuable preliminary insights into the mechanism underlying Cr(VI) elimination by the synergistic interaction between nZVI and CrRB. Therefore, this study establishes a solid theoretical foundations for the application of nano-bio synergy in the remediation of Cr(VI).

Remediation of Cr(VI)-Contaminated Soil by Biochar-Supported Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron and the Consequences for Indigenous Microbial Communities.

Biochar/nano-zero-valent iron (BC-nZVI) composites are currently of great interest as an efficient remediation material for contaminated soil, but their potential to remediate Cr-contaminated soils and effect on soil microecology is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of BC-nZVI composites on the removal of Cr(VI) from soil, and indigenous microbial diversity and community composition. The results showed that after 15 days of remediation with 10 g/kg of BC-nZVI, 86.55% of Cr(VI) was removed from the soil. The remediation of the Cr-contaminated soil with BC-nZVI resulted in a significant increase in OTUs and α-diversity index, and even a significant increase in the abundance and diversity of indigenous bacteria and unique bacterial species in the community by reducing the toxic concentration of Cr, changing soil properties, and providing habitat for survival. These results confirm that BC-nZVI is effective in removing Cr(VI) and stabilizing Cr in soil with no significant adverse effects on soil quality or soil microorganisms.

Impregnating biochar with Fe and Cu by bioleaching for fabricating catalyst to activate H2O2.

Biochar is an excellent support material for heterogeneous catalyst in Fenton reaction. However, fabrication of heterogeneous catalyst supported by biochar normally adopts chemical impregnation which is costly and difficult in post-treatment. Here, impregnation by bioleaching driven by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was developed. Bioleaching was particularly effective in loading iron to biochar. Iron loading amount was 225.5 mg/g after 10-g biochar was treated in bioleaching containing 40-g FeSO4·7H2O for 60 h. When copper was added into bioleaching, simultaneous impregnation with iron and copper could be achieved. Impregnation mechanism for iron was jarosite formation on biochar surface and adsorption for copper. For the high metal content, after pyrolysis, the final composites could activate hydrogen peroxide to decolorize dye effectively. With 15 mg as-synthesized Cu-Fe@biochar containing 254.3 mg/g iron and 33.4 mg/g copper, 50 mg/L reactive red 3BS or methylene blue could be decolorized completely in 20 min in a 100-mL solution by 16-mM H2O2 at pH 2.5. Compared with existing impregnation methods, bioleaching was facile, cheap and green, and deserved more concern. KEY POINTS: • High amount of Fe is loaded to biochar uniformly as jarosite by bioleaching. • Cu is adsorbed onto biochar during bioleaching. • Synthesized Cu-Fe@biochar is an excellent photo-Fenton catalyst.

Efficient Removal of Hexavalent Chromium from an Aquatic System Using Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron Supported by Ramie Biochar.

In this study, ramie biochar (RBC) was used to activate nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) to enhance hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) removal. The best results were obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C, a biochar particle size of < 150 µm, and an iron to carbon ratio = 1:1. Under the optimal conditions, the removal of Cr(VI) by RBC600-nZVI (98.69%) was much greater than that of RBC600 (12.42%) and nZVI (58.26%). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the reaction mechanism at the Fe and Cr interface was a multiple interaction mechanism with reduction dominated, adsorption, and co-precipitation simultaneously. The enhanced performance of RBC600-nZVI resulted from the effective dispersion of nZVI on the surface of RBC600, therefore increasing the adsorption activity sites. At the same time, RBC600 and nZVI exerted a synergistic influence on the composite structure, which jointly promoted the reduction reaction of Cr(VI) and removed more Cr(VI). This study shows that RBC-nZVI is a potentially valuable remediation material that not only provides a new idea for the utilization of ramie waste, but also effectively overcomes the limitations of nZVI, thus, achieving efficient and rapid remediation of Cr(VI).

Electrolyzing lactic acid in situ in fermentation broth to produce pyruvic acid in electrolysis cell.

Pyruvic acid is an important chemical in the carboxylate platform. Obstacles for its implementation are the need for high energy in chemical synthesis and additives in fermentation leading to increased production costs. Here, pyruvic acid generation from direct conversion of lactic acid in fermentation broth by electrolysis method is presented. It was found that lactic acid could be converted to pyruvic acid in the electrolysis cell under alkaline conditions. Using 12.53 g/L lactic acid fermentation broth as anolyte, 7.01 g/L pyruvic acid could be produced and productivity to lactic acid was 57.66% at initial pH 11.74 and 5.0 V applied a voltage in the electrolysis cell. Meanwhile, 0.472 mol hydrogen was produced at the cathode. The electric energy efficiency was 76.18%. Lactic acid fermentation is relatively cheap and can be performed on many kinds of wastes and biomasses. The results suggest that pyruvic acid production from direct electrolysis of lactic acid fermentation broth can be economically feasible.

Simultaneous adsorption of methyl red and methylene blue onto biochar and an equilibrium modeling at high concentration.

Methyl red, methylene blue and biochar were used to investigate simultaneous adsorption of dyes onto low-cost adsorbent at different concentrations combinations. Langmuir mixed model could describe the adsorption well at low concentrations. However, it could not describe the adsorption anymore when concentrations of methyl red and methylene blue were higher than 255 and 300 mg L(-1) respectively with 0.5 g L(-1) biochar loading. A new model on the interaction among adsorbed adsorbates at equilibrium was developed. It could describe the adsorption at high concentrations well. According to the experimental results, interaction among dyes molecules would replace the competition onto adsorbent to be the main factor influencing adsorption when amount of adsorbed adsorbates were higher than those required to form a monolayer on all the adsorbing sites of adsorbent. The model was further verified by adsorption with other solute such as glucose or NaCl in solution.

A kinetics modeling study on the inhibition of glucose on cellulosome of Clostridium thermocellum.

A simplified kinetics model was built to study the inhibition of glucose on cellulosome of Clostridium thermocellum. Suitable reaction conditions were adopted to evaluate the model. The model was evaluated at different temperatures and further with various activated carbon additions as adsorbent for glucose. Investigation results revealed that the model could describe the hydrolysis kinetics of cellulose by cellulosome quite well. Glucose was found to be an inhibitor for cellulosome based on the kinetics analysis. Inhibition increased with the increase in temperature. Activated carbon as adsorbent could lower the inhibition. Parameters in the model were further discussed based on the experiment. The model might also be used to describe the strong inhibition of cellobiose on cellulosome. Saccharification of cellulose by both cellulosome and C. thermocellum could be enhanced efficiently by activated carbon addition.

Production of a value added compound from the H-acid waste water-Bioflocculants by Klebsiella pneumoniae.

A novel strain (designated as ZCY-7) which could convert H-acid into bioflocculants was isolated from H-acid wastewater sludge. Conditions for bioflocculants production were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) and determined to be inoculum size 9.65%, initial pH 7.0, and CODCr of the H-acid wastewater 520mg/L. The highest flocculating efficiency achieved for kaolin suspension was 95.1%, after 60h cultivation. The yielded bioflocculant was mainly composed of polysaccharide (82.4%) and protein (14.2%), and maintained its flocculating activity in 0.4% (w/w) kaolin suspensions over pH 2-8 and 20-80°C. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra showed that amino, amide and hydroxyl groups were present in the bioflocculant molecules. A viable alternative treatment technology of H-acid wastewater using this novel strain is suggested, which could largely reduce bioflocculants costs. In addition, flocculating mechanism investigation reveals that the bioflocculant could cause kaolin suspension instability by means of charge neutralization firstly and then promoted the aggregation of suspension particles by adsorption and bridge. It is evident from the results that H-acid wastewater could be used as a source to manufacture bioflocculants.

Production of a bioflocculant from chromotropic acid waste water and its application in steroid estrogen removal.

A novel strain (designated as SW-2) which could convert chromotropic acid into bioflocculants was isolated from chromotropic acid wastewater. Conditions for bioflocculants production were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) and determined to be inoculum size 7.74%, initial pH 6.9, and CODCr of the chromotropic acid wastewater 425mg/L. The yielded bioflocculant was primarily consisting of polysaccharide and protein. It could maintain its flocculating activity to 0.4% (w/w) kaolin suspensions over pH 3-9 and 20-80°C. In addition, conditions for the removal of estrogens with the bioflocculant were investigated and determined to be bioflocculant dosage 50mg/L, initial pH 3, reaction time 60min, and temperature 45°C. Under these optimal conditions, the removal efficiencies of E1, E2, EE2, and E3 were 87%, 92%, 88% and 96%, respectively. The bioflocculant was shown to offer a promising alternative method of removing estrogens from water in pretreatment applications.

Bioleaching of heavy metal from woody biochar using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and activation for adsorption.

A woody biochar which was the byproduct of gasification of sawdust was treated with bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. After bioleaching, most heavy metal was removed from biochar. Leaching efficiency of heavy metal was efficient in a wide pulp density range from 1% to 10% (w/v) and decreased only a little with the increase in pulp density. It made application of biochar free of heavy metal risk. Benefitting from the improvement in functional group composition and pore structure after bioleaching, adsorption capacity of biochar to methylene blue and heavy metal was enhanced greatly. Adsorption of methylene blue could be described by pseudo-second-order model and Langmuir equation and the enhancement was mainly caused by the modification of physical character of biochar. Adsorption of heavy metal could be described by Freundlich equation and was mainly determined by chemical character of biochar.

Removal of copper from acid wastewater of bioleaching by adsorption onto ramie residue and uptake by Trichoderma viride.

A continuous batch bioleaching was built to realize the bioleaching of sewage sludge in large scale. In the treatment, heavy metal in acid wastewater of bioleaching was removed by adsorption onto ramie residue. Then, acid wastewater was reused in next bioleaching batch. In this way, most time and water of bioleaching was saved and leaching efficiency of copper, lead and chromium kept at a high level in continuous batch bioleaching. It was found that residual heavy metal in sewage sludge is highly related to that in acid wastewater after bioleaching. To get a high leaching efficiency, concentration of heavy metal in acid wastewater should be low. Adsorption of copper from acid wastewater onto ramie residue can be described by pseudo first-order kinetics equation and Freundlich isotherm model. Trichoderma viride has the potential to be used for the concentration and recovery of heavy metal adsorbed onto ramie residue.

Nitrogen removal of ramie stalk treated by acid wastewater combined with Clostridium thermocellum and the kinetic study of pyrolysis.

A pretreatment was developed to remove nitrogen from ramie residue and cotton stalk to eliminate potential nitrogen pollutants in biomass energy production. In the pretreatment, straw was treated with acid wastewater from bioleaching for 3 h followed by Clostridium thermocellum incubation for 2 h. Most nitrogen was removed from biomass waste and the major was that in protein. Pyrolysis process revealed most hemicellulose was removed and the kinetics fitted the first-order equation well. Apparent activation energy of ramie residue increased a little and mass loss became concentrated. Ultimate analysis and pyrolysis analysis revealed the treatment did not weaken the application value of biomass in energy production. Replacing acid wastewater with sulphuric acid, a higher nitrogen removal could be achieved; however, activation energy increased sharply.

[Association of EMILIN1 gene polymorphism with essential hypertension in Mongolian].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between genetic polymorphisms of 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the elastin microfibril interfacer 1 (EMILIN1) gene and essential hypertension. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted in which 201 hypertensive patients and 202 healthy controls in Mongolian population were enrolled, and the genotypes of rs3754734, rs2011616 and rs2304682 loci were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and direct sequencing techniques. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the frequencies of alleles and genotypes for the rs2304682 between the hypertensives and normotensives in the population (P<0.05). The frequency of the G-G haplotype established by rs3754734 and rs2304682 was significantly higher in the hypertensive patients (P<0.05). The frequencies of alleles and genotypes for the rs2304682 also had significant differences between the group with high diastolic blood pressure and normal diasto lic blood pressure (P<0.05).There were no significant differences in the frequencies of alleles and genotypes for the 3 SNPs between the group with high systolic blood pressure and normal systolic blood pressure (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The rs2304682 locus in the EMILIN1 gene, as well as the haplotypes G-G constructed using rs3754734 and rs2304682, may associate with the susceptibility of essential hypertension in the Mongolian population. Also, rs2304682 may associate with the level of the diastolic blood pressure.