A co-beneficial system using aquatic plants: bioethanol production from free-floating aquatic plants used for water purification.

A co-beneficial system using constructed wetlands (CWs) planted with aquatic plants is proposed for bioethanol production and nutrient removal from wastewater. The potential for bioethanol production from aquatic plant biomass was experimentally evaluated. Water hyacinth and water lettuce were selected because of their high growth rates and easy harvestability attributable to their free-floating vegetation form. The alkaline/oxidative pretreatment was selected for improving enzymatic hydrolysis of the aquatic plants. Ethanol was produced with yields of 0.14-0.17 g-ethanol/ g-biomass in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation mode using a recombinant Escherichia coli strain or a typical yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Subsequently, the combined benefits of the CWs planted with the aquatic plants for bioethanol production and nutrient removal were theoretically estimated. For treating domestic wastewater at 1,100 m(3)/d, it was inferred that the anoxic-oxic activated sludge process consumes energy at 3,200 MJ/d, whereas the conventional activated sludge process followed by the CW consumes only 1,800 MJ/d with ethanol production at 115 MJ/d.

Ethanol production from candidate energy crops: water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.).

Fermentation modes and microorganisms related to two typical free-floating aquatic plants, water hyacinth and water lettuce, were investigated for their use in ethanol production. Except for arabinose, sugar contents in water lettuce resembled those in water hyacinth leaves. Water lettuce had slightly higher starch contents and lower contents of cellulose and hemicellulose. A traditional strain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae NBRC 2346, produced 14.4 and 14.9 g l(-1) ethanol, respectively, from water hyacinth and water lettuce. Moreover, a recombinant strain, Escherichia coli KO11, produced 16.9 and 16.2 g l(-1) ethanol in the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation mode (SSF), which was more effective than the separated hydrolysis and fermentation mode (SHF). The ethanol yield per unit biomass was comparable to those reported for other agricultural biomasses: 0.14-0.17 g g-dry(-1) for water hyacinth and 0.15-0.16 g g-dry(-1) for water lettuce.

Effects of light intensity and water temperature on oxygen release from roots into water lettuce rhizosphere.

The oxygen release rate into the rhizosphere by a floating aquatic plant-water lettuce-was determined under various light intensities (0.0-1.2x10(5)lx) and water temperatures (10-35 degrees C). The net specific oxygen release rate was expressed by a model equation comprising the gross oxygen release rate and the rhizosphere respiration terms. Experimental and simulated results show that the net specific oxygen release rate increased with light intensity up to the optimal value, but slight inhibition by higher light intensities was observed at 10-20 degrees C. With increased water temperature, the respiration rate became larger than the gross oxygen release rate. The maximum net specific oxygen release rate of 11.0-12.5mg-O(2)kg-wet(-1)h(-1) was obtained at the optimal condition of about 25 degrees C and 9.0x10(4)-1.1x10(5)lx. The net oxygen release rate was negligible at 35 degrees C at any light intensity because the respiration rate was much greater than the gross oxygen release rate into the rhizosphere.

Comparative study on chemical pretreatments to accelerate enzymatic hydrolysis of aquatic macrophyte biomass used in water purification processes.

In this study, enzymatic hydrolysis of two floating aquatic plants which are suitable for water purification, water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.), was performed to produce sugars. Twenty chemical pretreatments were comparatively examined in order to improve the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis. As a result, the alkaline/oxidative (A/O) pretreatment, in which sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide were used, was the most effective pretreatment in terms of improving enzymatic hydrolysis of the leaves of water hyacinth and water lettuce. The amount of reducing sugars in enzymatic hydrolysate of water lettuce leaves was 1.8 times higher than that of water hyacinth leaves, therefore water lettuce seems to be more attractive as a biomass resource than water hyacinth. Although roots of these plants contained large amounts of polysaccharides such as cellulose and hemicellulose, they generated less monosaccharides than from leaves, no matter which chemical pretreatment was tested.