[Optimization of the Parameters for Microalgae Immobilization and Analysis of Its Recovery Potential for Ammonia Nitrogen in Wastewater].

Application of microalgae in wastewater treatment is regarded as a potential green technology. However, its engineering application has been largely hindered because of the difficulty of biomass separation and harvesting. This study aimed to identify the key parameters influencing the process of microalgae immobilization. To do this, the study focused on immobilization technology and Scenedesmus obliquus, and employed the response surface methodology (RSM) and the Box-Behnken design (BBD). In an evaluation of the performance of microalgae beads, the fixing agent concentration, the cross-linking agent concentration, and the cross-linking time were selected as the independent variables, and the mechanical strength, the mass transfer rate, and the growth rate of immobilized microalgae beads were the response values. The optimal conditions and the uptake potential of the microalgae beads with respect to ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) were further explored and analyzed. The results showed that the optimal parameters for the preparation of immobilized microalgae beads were 5%, 2%, and 16 h, and the maximum removal capacity was obtained using mixotrophic cultivation with an embedding density of 1×106 cells·mL-1 and an organic matter concentration of 300 mg·L-1. In addition, the removal capacity of immobilized microalgae with respect to high concentrations of NH4+-N was significantly higher than for free-living microalgae. When the initial concentrations of NH4+-N were approximately 50 and 70 mg·L-1, NH4+-N was removed by the immobilized microalgae (after a 5-day mixotrophic cultivation) at a rate of (96.6±0.1)% and (65.2±4.5)%, respectively. With an initial NH4+-N concentration of 30 mg·L-1, the dominance of free-living microalgae was clear, with a removal rate of (97.8±0.6)% after a 3-day cultivation. However, under heterotrophic cultivation, the removal rate of NH4+-N by immobilized microalgae was generally low and gradually decreased with increasing concentrations. When the initial concentration was approximately 30 mg·L-1, the removal rate was only (49.0±3.1)%. This study provides new prospects for sustainable urban wastewater treatment, a new approach for resource recycling, and a strong theoretical foundation for the popularization and application of microalgae in wastewater treatment.

Study of an enhanced dry anaerobic digestion of swine manure: Performance and microbial community property.

Anaerobic digestion could treat organic wastes and recovery energy. Dry anaerobic digestion had advantages of low heating energy, small digester and less digestate, but its methane production was poor. In this study, an enhanced dry anaerobic digestion of swine manure (thermal treatment + dry anaerobic digestion) was proposed, and its feasibility was investigated via semi-continuous experiment. Results showed that methane production rates were 314.6, 416.0, 298.0 and 69.9 mL CH4/g VS at solid retention time (SRT) of 41 d, 35 d, 29 d and 23 d. Volatile solids (VS) removal rate and methane production rate could reached 71.4% and 416.0 mL CH4/g VS respectively at SRT of 35 d. Methane production rate of the enhanced dry anaerobic digestion was 390% higher than that of dry anaerobic digestion. Microbial study indicated that hydrogenotrophic methanogens predominated with the abundance of 90.2%, while acetoclastic methanogens were not detected. This process was feasible, and was of great practical importance.

Novel insight into high solid anaerobic digestion of swine manure after thermal treatment: Kinetics and microbial community properties.

Compared to traditional anaerobic digestion (AD), high solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) had the advantages of small digester, low heating energy and less digestate. However, the methane production was poor. In our previous study, thermal treatment (70 ±â€¯1 °C, 3 days) without any dilution could satisfactorily enhance the methane production rate of HSAD by up to 39.5%. However, effects of solid content on HSAD after thermal treatment were not yet studied. In this study, HSAD was conducted at 11.7-17.6% solid content, and the control experiment was conducted at low solid content (4.4% solid content). Results showed that HSAD's methane production rate was the highest at 11.7% solid content (158 mL CH4/g VS), and could reach up to 89.2% of that at 4.4% solid content. The utilization of organics was revealed by kinetics analysis that the readily biodegradable organics could be utilized at increasing solid content with decreasing hydrolysis rate. Furthermore, it was notable that methylotrophic methanogens predominated in HSAD with the abundance of 82.6%. This was quite unique from the general belief that AD system was usually dominated by acetoclastic or hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathways. In this study, the microbial community structure of HSAD after thermal treatment was firstly studied, its unique specific methanogenic pathways was firstly revealed.

Effects of thermal treatment on high solid anaerobic digestion of swine manure: Enhancement assessment and kinetic analysis.

Anaerobic digestion (AD), which is a process for generating biogas, can be applied to the treatment of organic wastes. Owing to its smaller footprint, lower energy consumption, and less digestate, high solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) has attracted increasing attention. However, its biogas production is poor. In order to improve biogas production and decrease energy consumption, an improved thermal treatment process was proposed. Raw swine manure (>20% solid content) without any dilution was thermally treated at 70±1°C for different retention times, and then its effect on HSAD was investigated via batch AD experiments at 8.9% solid content. Results showed that the main organic components of swine manure hydrolyzed significantly during the thermal treatment, and HSAD's methane production rate was improved by up to 39.5%. Analysis using two kinetic models confirmed that the treatment could increase biodegradable organics (especially the readily biodegradable organics) in swine manure rather than upgrading its hydrolysis rate. It is worth noting that the superimposed first-order kinetics model was firstly applied in AD, and was a good tool to reveal the AD kinetics mechanism of substrates with complex components.

[Mesophilic and Thermophilic Anaerobic Co-Digestion of Food Waste and Straw].

The anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and straw is more efficient in avoiding the accumulation of volatile fatty acids and promoting the degradation of lignocellulose in comparison with their individual digestions. The co-digestion of food waste and straw was investigated under mesophilic(35℃) and thermophilic(55℃) condition, respectively. The results indicated that when feeding volatile solid concentration was 3 kg·m-3, the accumulated methane production yield of the mesophilic reactor reached the peak of 272.0 mL·g-1 at a food waste-to-straw ratio of 9:1, while it reached the peak of 402.3 mL·g-1 at a food waste-to-straw ratio of 5:5 for thermophilic reactor. These amounts were significantly higher than those of food waste digestion alone(218.6 mL·g-1 for mesophilic reactor and 322.0 mL·g-1 for thermophilic reactor). Co-digestion promoted the rate of carbon transfer to methane, and further, the rate of the thermophilic reactor was higher than that of the mesophilic reactor. Degradation rate for lignocellulose of thermophilic reactor was 34.7%-45.8%, higher than that of mesophilic reactor, 12.6%-42.2%. It was confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequences of bacteria and archaea, ITS sequences of fungi based on high-throughput sequencing techniques, which showed the amounts of lignocellulose degrading bacteria and actinomycetes in the thermophilic reactor were both higher than those in the mesophilic reactor.

[Microbial Structure of an Enhanced Two-phase High-solid Anaerobic Digestion System Treating Sludge].

High-solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) of sludge has several advantages like smaller reactor, lower energy consumption and less digestate. However, the understanding about the mechanism especially the microbial mechanism is still limited. In this study, microbial communities of a pilot-scale sludge HSAD system at steady state were investigated with 16S rRNA clone library technology. The system employed an enhanced two-phase anaerobic digestion process, i. e. 'hyperthermophilic acidogenesis (70℃, 3 d)-thermophilic methanogenesis (55℃, 12.5 d)' to treat waste activated sludge with a solid content of about 9%. The volatile solid (VS) removal rate was 35.7% and methane yield (CH4/VSremoved) was 0.648 m3·kg-1. The bacterial compositions of the two phases were significantly different:there were plenty of proteolytic bacteria in hyperthermophilic acidogenesis phase; and the bacteria degrading polysaccharides like cellulose and the bacteria utilizing long-chain fatty acids were found in thermophilic methanogenesis phase; some bacteria degrading simple saccharides existed in both phases. In both phases, the dominant archaea were Methanothermobacter. Especially, 100% of the retrieved archaea in the thermophilic methanogenesis phase belonged to genus Methanothermobacter. This indicated that hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis was the predominant methanogenesis pathway in this system since methane was only detected in the methanogenesis phase.

[Degradation of the Nitrogenous Heterocyclic Compound Quinoline by O3/UV].

The influences of various factors including initial concentration of quionline solution, static duration after reaction, initial pH, HCO3-on the degradation of quinoline by O3/UV were analyzed in this study. In addition, the degradation mechanism and pathways were also analyzed. The results showed that reaction rate constants and removal rate of quinoline decreased with the increase of the initial concentration of quinoline. The best degradation efficiency of quinoline was achieved under the alkaline conditions (pH 7-9). Removal rate of quinoline was obviously influenced by HCO3-, and was reduced by 42.01% within 6 min when the concentration of HCO3- was 100 mg·L-1. There was neglected effect of static duration after reaction on the removal rate and mineralization rate of quinolone. The intermediate products of quinoline were mainly 8-hydroxyquinoline, 5-hydroxyquinoline, 2(1H)-quinoline ketone, 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde and so on. The main degradation pathways of quinoline in the O3/UV system were addition reaction, substitution reaction and electrophilic substitution mediated by O3 and·OH.

Size effect of anaerobic granular sludge on biogas production: A micro scale study.

This study investigated the influence of anaerobic granular sludge size on its bioactivity at COD concentration of 1000, 3000 and 6000 mg/L. Based on size, granules were categorized as large (3-3.5 mm), medium (1.5-2 mm) and small (0.5-1 mm). A positive relationship was obtained between granule size and biogas production rate. For instance, at COD 6000 mg/L, large granules had highest biogas production rate of 0.031 m(3)/kgVSS/d while medium and small granules had 0.016 and 0.006 m(3)/kgVSS/d respectively. The results were reaffirmed by applying modified Fick's law of diffusion. Diffusion rates of substrate for large, medium and small granules were 1.67×10(-3), 6.1×10(-4)and 1.8×10(-4) mg/s respectively at that COD. Large granules were highly bio-active due to their internal structure, i.e. big pore size, high porosity and short diffusion distance as compared to medium and small granules, thus large granules could improve the performance of reactor.

[Impact of Thermal Treatment on Biogas Production by Anaerobic Digestion of High-solid-content Swine Manure].

Livestock manure is a kind of waste with high organic content and sanitation risk. In order to investigate the impact of thermal treatment on the anaerobic digestion of high-solid-content swine manure, 70 degrees C thermal treatment was conducted to treat raw manure (solid content 27.6%) without any dilution. The results indicated that thermal treatment could reduce the organic matters and improve the performance of anaerobic digestion. When the thermal treatment time was 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d, the VS removal rates were 15.1%, 15.5%, 17.8% and 20.0%, respectively. The methane production rates (CH4/VSadd) were 284.4, 296.3, 309.2 and 264.4 mL x g(-1), which was enhanced by 49.7%, 55.9%, 62.7% and 39.2%, respectively. The highest methane production rate occurred when the thermal treatment time was 3d. The thermal treatment had an efficient impact on promoting the performance of methane production rate with a suitable energy consumption. On the other hand, thermal treatment could act as pasteurization. This showed that thermal treatment would be of great practical importance.

[Pilot study of thermal treatment/thermophilic anaerobic digestion process treating waste activated sludge of high solid content].

A pilot-scale experiment about the process of "thermal pretreatment at 70°C/thermophilic anaerobic digestion" of waste activated sludge of high solid content (8% -9% ) was conducted. The process employed thermal treatment of 3 days to accelerate the hydrolysis and thermophilic digestion to enhance anaerobic reaction. Thus it was good at organic removal and stabilization. When the solid retention time (SRT) was longer than 20 days, the VSS removal rate was greater than 42. 22% and it was linearly correlated to the SRT of the aerobic digestion with the R2 of 0. 915 3. It was suggested that SRT of anaerobic digestion was 25 days in practice. VSS removal rate and biogas production rate of the pilot experiment were similar to those of the run-well traditional full-scale sludge anaerobic digestion plants (solid content 3% -5% ) and the plant of high solid content using German technique.

Effect of farnesyltransferase inhibition on cardiac remodeling in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

BACKGROUND: Farnesyltransferase (FT), an essential enzyme at the downstream of mevalonate pathway, was reported to be upregulated in hypertrophic cardiomyocytes of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) compared with myocardium of Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKYs). This upregulation was accompanied with cardiac remodeling. This study was designed to determine whether FT inhibition can alter cardiac remodeling in SHRs. METHODS: Twelve-week-old SHRs were randomized to receive infusion of either NS or FTI-276 (307 µg/kg/d i.v. each n=10). WKY rats served as normal controls (n=6). Echocardiography was performed before and after intervention. SHR hearts were perfused ex vivo for the evaluation of cardiac performance, collagen deposition and biochemical changes (activation of Ras, extracellular-signal regulated kinases/ERK1/2, procollagen type І/Ш, TGF-ß1, connective tissue growth factor/CTGF, and bone morphogenetic protein-7/BMP-7 expression). RESULTS: FTI-276 intervention decreased interventricular septum wall thickness at end- diastole (IVSd) and relative wall thickness (RWT) of SHRs (P<0.05). Three week intervention with FTI-276 attenuated hydroxyproline content (P<0.05), collagen deposition (P<0.01), Ras activation, ERK1/2 phosphorylation (P<0.01) and mRNA expression of procollagen type I, TGF-ß1 and CTGF and elevated mRNA expression of BMP-7 (P<0.05) in left ventricle of SHRs. CONCLUSION: The present study indicated that FT inhibition could attenuate myocardial fibrosis and partly improve cardiac remodeling in SHRs. The beneficial effects might be mediated through suppression of the activation of Ras and ERK1/2 phosphorylation pathway. The enhanced mRNA expression of BMP-7 with inhibition of TGF-ß1 and CTGF mRNA expression might be an important mechanism.

[Effect of nucleation modes on the induced crystallization process for copper contained wastewater treatment].

The effect of nucleation modes on the induced crystallization process for copper contained wastewater treatment was studied. Tests were undertaken to observe the difference of copper removal efficiency and the crystal growth with homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. When the influent copper concentration was 50 mg x L(-1), copper removal efficiency could achieve 98.0% with the heterogeneous and 26.3% with homogeneous nucleation. And the SEM-EDS showed that the growth of crystals with heterogeneous nucleation was better and the purity of the crystals was higher than that with homogeneous nucleation. It is obvious that the homogeneous nucleation was an unfavorable condition on the induced crystallization process. Then the research devoted to discuss the process of induced crystallization with the two different nucleation mode and analysis the influencing mechanism of the homogeneous nucleation on the induced crystallization.

[Removing nitrate-nitrogen from wastewater using rotten wood as carbon source].

In this research, COD release of rotten wood was studied and rotten wood was investigated as the sole carbon source as well as biofilm carrier to remove nitrate from wastewater in up-flow laboratory reactor. The experimental results indicated that rotten wood could release carbon source continuously. COD released of rotten wood inoculated with humus was 2. 3 times higher than that of sterilized rotten wood, and VFA was 5 times. The research of denitrification was carried out at 25 degrees +/- 1 degrees C, 30 mg/L of initial NO3(-) -N concentration and 12 h of hydraulic retention time. Nitrate removal efficiency was above 80%. A time-dependent decrease in nitrate removal efficiency was observed after 46 days of operation. The results showed that rotten wood could be used as an effective carbon source for denitrification.

Dual effects of sodium aescinate on vascular tension in rat thoracic aorta.

OBJECTIVE: Sodium aescinate (SA) is used as a vasoactive drug in clinical treatment. This study was designed to investigate the effects of SA on rat isolated thoracic aorta and the possible mechanisms. METHODS: Isometric tension was recorded in response to drugs in organ bath. RESULTS: The effects of SA obeyed an all-or-nothing response. SA in relatively low dose (> or = 50 microg/ml) had an endothelium-independent contractile effect in rat aorta (P<0.01), which depended on extracellular Ca(2+) influx via L-type Ca(2+) channel (P<0.05). SA in relatively high dose (> or = 100 microg/ml) also induced vasoconstriction in Ca(2+)-free medium (P<0.01), which was independent of the activity of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (IP(3)R), ryanodine receptor (RYR), and protein kinase C (PKC). SA in relatively high dose (> or = 100 microg/ml) dilated both endothelium-intact and endothelium-denuded aortic rings precontracted by phenylephrine (PE) or KCl (each P<0.01). SA inhibited extracellular Ca(2+) influx induced by PE or KCl (each P<0.01) and had no activation effect on K(+) channels on vascular smooth muscle. The relaxant effect of SA partly depended on the activity of NO synthase but not on the activity of cyclooxygenase. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this study indicated that SA had dual effects on vascular tension in rat isolated thoracic aorta.

[Reconstruction of eyelid defect using periosteal stripe from lateral orbital rim as substitute of tarsus].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the results of eyelid defect reconstruction using periosteal stripe of the lateral orbital rim. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of eyelid defects reconstruction in 13 patients with lateral canthus eyelid defect following the excision of the eyelid tumors including: seven patients with basal cell carcinoma, four patients with sebaceous cell carcinoma and two patients with squamous cell carcinoma. All eyelid defects were reconstructed with zygoma periosteal stripe as the posterior layer of the eyelid. The anterior layer of the eyelid was reconstructed by myocutaneous flap. RESULTS: After follow-up at 8 to 56 months, all reconstructed eyelids showed a normal appearance with good function and without deformities, e.g. eyelid notch, entropion and ectropion. There was no relapse of the eyelid tumor. All patients were satisfied with the results. CONCLUSIONS: This method is good for repairing lateral eyelid defect involving 1/3 to 2/3 eyelids and without the tumor invasion of lateral orbit rim. This procedure obtains satisfactory results, especially for simultaneous reconstruction of upper and lower eyelids defects.

[Methodology of the anaerobic reactor SD model's construction].

On the basis of system dynamic, we summed up 3 different patterns between variables, and put forward the theory of partitional modeling. We divided the model of anaerobic reactor into 3 blocks, and confirmed the system structural graphic. According to the character and advantage of partitional modeling, we construct the SD model of anaerobic reactor which is fed by glucose, and used a different calculation way for different blocks. Comparing with the lab data, errors between SD model, test data, and Andrews' model is less than 10%. We also analyzed the result of simplified model which removed the materialized block. It shows that result of SD model is credible; way of partitional modeling is propitious to the simplification and upgrade of model, reduction of the amount of calculation, and increase of calculation speed.

[Uniform model and experimental method of anaerobic inhibition dynamics using table function].

To figure out the problem, such as disunity of existent form in the model of traditional inhibition dynamic, and difficulty to obtain the parameters, we adopt the way of table function to formulate inhibition kinetics. Through indraught the way of table function to improve on the way of experiment in dynamic mensuration, DYNAMO software was used to process the data and simulate the inhibition phenomena of 2,4 dinitrophenol. The result shows that the table function is possible to simulate the inhibition phenomena. Compared with the traditional inhibition dynamic, the simulation curve of table function is much more close to the data of experiment, the modality is simple and unify, and simultaneously it solves the problem of parameter obtaining. When the complex inhibition phenomena is simulated, the table function shows obvious advantage, and may predigest the structure of model at a certain extent.

[Blocking 1800 MHz mobile phone radiation-induced reactive oxygen species production and DNA damage in lens epithelial cells by noise magnetic fields].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the exposure to the electromagnetic noise can block reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and DNA damage of lens epithelial cells induced by 1800 MHz mobile phone radiation. METHODS: The DCFH-DA method and comet assay were used respectively to detect the intracellular ROS and DNA damage of cultured human lens epithelial cells induced by 4 W/kg 1800 MHz mobile phone radiation or/and 2 muT electromagnetic noise for 24 h intermittently. RESULT: 1800 MHz mobile phone radiation at 4 W/kg for 24 h increased intracellular ROS and DNA damage significantly (P<0.05). However, the ROS level and DNA damage of mobile phone radiation plus noise group were not significant enhanced (P>0.05) as compared to sham exposure group. CONCLUSION: Electromagnetic noise can block intracellular ROS production and DNA damage of human lens epithelial cells induced by 1800 MHz mobile phone radiation.

[Effects of microwave radiation on lens hydration and expression of PKC-alpha and transcription factors in lens epithelial cells].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of low power microwave radiation on lens hydration and lens epithelial cells in vitro, and detect the expression of PKC-alpha, c-fos and c-jun in lens epithelial cells. METHODS: Rabbit lens were exposed to microwave radiation with frequency of 2450 MHz and power density of 0.5, 2.0 and 5.0 mW/cm(2) in vitro. The hydration of lens was measured after 8 hours. Morphological changes of lens epithelial cells were observed using a phase-contrast microscope and Hoechst 33258 staining. Expression of PKC-alpha, c-fos and c-jun were analyzed using gel electrophoresis and western blot analysis. RESULTS: After 2.0 and 5.0 mW/cm(2) microwave radiation, the hydration of lens was increased compared to control groups (P<0.05), the shape of lens epithelial cells showed shrinking and disorder and cells nuclei appeared chromatin condensation. There was no change of lens and lens epithelial cells after 0.5 mW/cm(2) microwave radiation. The expression of PKC-alpha was significantly increased in cell membrane, however, decreased in cell cytoplasm after 2.0 mW/cm(2) microwave radiation for 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours. There was significantly increased expression of c-fos and c-jun protein compared with control groups (P<0.05, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Low power microwave radiation higher than 2.0 mW/cm(2) can activate PKC-alpha by increasing its expression in cell membrane, then induce high expression of c-fos and c-jun, which may relate to cellular signaling pathway of microwave radiation injury to lens and lens epithelial cells.

[Effects of different dose microwave radiation on protein components of cultured rabbit lens].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of different dose microwave radiation on protein components of cultured rabbit lens, and analyze the mechanisms of lens injury caused by microwave radiation. METHODS: Cultured rabbit lens were exposed to microwave radiation with frequency of 2450 MHz and power density of 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, 5.00 mW/cm(2) for 8 hours in vitro. The transparency of lens was observed. Changes of protein concentration were detected after different lens protein components were extracted, including water-soluble protein (WSP), urea soluble protein (USP), alkali soluble protein (ASP) and sonicated protein (SP). The influence of microwave radiation on WSP was analyzed using SDS-PAGE electrophoresis and coomassie-blue staining. RESULTS: Transparency of lens decreased after radiation. There was obvious opacification of lens cortex after 5.00 mW/cm(2) microwave radiation for 8 hours. After 1.00, 2.00 and 5.00 mW/cm(2) radiation, the percentage of WSP decreased while USP increased obviously. There was no change of ASP. The percentage of SP decreased when the power of microwave was 5.00 mW/cm(2). The low molecular weight protein of WSP decreased while high molecular weight protein increased after microwave radiation. CONCLUSION: Microwave radiation higher than 1.00 mW/cm(2) can affect the proportion of WSP and USP in cultured rabbit lens, and cause changes of lens transparency and refractive power, which leads to lens opacity.