Use of iron oxide nanomaterials in wastewater treatment: a review.

Nowadays there is a continuously increasing worldwide concern for the development of wastewater treatment technologies. The utilization of iron oxide nanomaterials has received much attention due to their unique properties, such as extremely small size, high surface-area-to-volume ratio, surface modifiability, excellent magnetic properties and great biocompatibility. A range of environmental clean-up technologies have been proposed in wastewater treatment which applied iron oxide nanomaterials as nanosorbents and photocatalysts. Moreover, iron oxide based immobilization technology for enhanced removal efficiency tends to be an innovative research point. This review outlined the latest applications of iron oxide nanomaterials in wastewater treatment, and gaps which limited their large-scale field applications. The outlook for potential applications and further challenges, as well as the likely fate of nanomaterials discharged to the environment were discussed.

Oxalate production at different initial Pb²+ concentrations and the influence of oxalate during solid-state fermentation of straw with Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

The production of oxalate at different initial Pb(2+) concentrations during solid-state fermentation of straw with Phanerochaete chrysosporium was investigated. It was found that the maximal peak value of oxalate concentration (22.84 mM) was detected at the initial Pb(2+) concentration of 200 mg kg(-1) dry straw, while the minimum (15.89 mM) at the concentration of 600 mg Pb(2+)kg(-1) dry straw, and at moderate concentration of Pb(2+) the capability of oxalic acid secretion was enhanced. In addition, it was also found that more oxalic acid accumulation went together with better Pb(2+) passivation effect and higher manganese peroxidase (MnP) activity. The present findings will improve the understandings of the interactions of heavy metals with white-rot fungi and the role of oxalate in lignin degradation system, which could provide useful references for more efficient treatment of Pb-contaminated lignocellulosic waste.

[Performance of desulfurizing absorbent of roasted navajoite].

An innovative flue gas desulfurization (FGD) coupling process was proposed in this study to overcome the problems in wet-type limestone/lime processes which include fouling, clogging, and difficulty of selling the by-products and the problems in traditional process for vanadium extraction from navajoite ore such as excessive consumption of sulfuric acid and emissions of pollutants. The performance of a jet bubbling reactor (JBR) at pilot-scale was evaluated using navajoite ore produced in the process of extracting vanadium pentoxide as desulfurization absorbent. Results showed that navajoite ore slurry achieved better desulfurization performance than limestone slurry. When the inlet flue gas pressure drop was 3.0 kPa, the gas flow was about 2350 m3 x h(-1) and the pH of the navajoite ore slurry was higher than 4.5, the desulfurization efficiency was stable about 90%. The SO2 removal efficiency appeared to increase along with the increasing of absorbent cycle-index. The efficiency of the second circulation was improved 3.5% compared to the first circulation. After an operating duration of 40 minutes, the leaching rate of vanadium pentoxide was about 20%, and reached 60% when the by-products were leached with 5% dilute sulfuric acid for 10 hours. The by-product from this process not only could be used to produce vanadium pentoxide which is a valuable industrial product, but also could significantly overcome the pollution problem existing in the traditional refining process of vanadium pentoxide when navajoite ore is used as the feed material. This FGD process using roasted navajoite slurry as absorbent is environmental sound and cost-effective, and shows the potential for application in the field of flue gas desulfurization as well as hydrometallurgy.

[Research and application of producing laccase by Phanerochaete chrysosporium in solid-state fermentation system].

The potential of banana skin and corn cob as a support-substrate for the production of extracellular laccase by the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium (BKMF-1767) was investigated. The results indicate that laccase showed a maximum activity of 12.68 U/g when the proportion of banana skin and corn cob is 1:2 and the inducer is 0.4 mmol/L CuSO4. In addition, crude laccase enzyme shows degradation activity to pentachlorophenol (PCP) without redox mediator or with the redox mediator (ABTS) at a concentration of 5 mmol/L, and the degradation rates of PCP were 37.8% and 97% respectively after 6 h. The crude laccase was purified by treatment of (NH4)2SO4, and the purified laccase could make the degradation rate of PCP to 81.8% within 6 h.

[Optimization of piggery wastewater treatment with combined anaerobic hydrolysis and SBR process].

Anaerobic sequence batch reactor and aerobic sequence batch reactor were combined to treat the piggery wastewater. The ASBR was used to digest the wastewater for primary organic matter removal. Infections of digestion time to the wastewater's BOD/COD and to the nitrogen removal in behind SBR were studied. The result indicated that the wastewater with 36 hours' digestion retained high BOD/COD ratio of about 0.4. The nitrogen removal efficiency of this kind of wastewater in behind SBR was high with the effluent NH4+-N concentration less than 10 mg/L and a removal ratio higher than 99%. The total BOD5 removal ratio of A/O SBR was higher than 98% but the effluent COD(Cr) concentration couldn't meet the discharging standard before coagulating sedimentation.