Effective diesel removal by a novel electrospun composite nanofibrous membrane with immobilized Bacillus cereus LY-1.

Nanofiber membranes have recently been considered as promising supports for the immobilization of microorganisms due to the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of electrostatic spinning technology and the ability to control fiber morphology, such as obtaining higher surface area and porosity. In this study, electrospun polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate/attapulgite (PVA/SA/ATP) nanofiber membrane was prepared as support for immobilized Bacillus cereus LY-1 for diesel degradation in an aqueous medium and a significant improvement in diesel removal efficiency was realized. The effect of modified ATP concentration on diesel removal was investigated. The results showed that the nanofiber membranes complexed with cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and 1% ATP (w/w) had the best capacity for diesel removing. When the initial diesel concentration was 2 g L-1, about 87.8% of diesel was removed by the immobilized LY-1 cells after 72 h. Immobilization of bacteria improves the ability of bacteria to survive in adverse environments. Immobilized LY-1 cells maintain the nature to remove diesel at high salinity or pH range of 6-9. Furthermore, the reusability of the LY-1 cells-immobilized PVA/SA/CTAB-ATP nanofiber membrane was tested. A diesel removal rate of 64.9% could be achieved after 4 times of use. PVA/SA/CTAB-ATP nanofibrous membranes with immobilized LY-1 cells are feasible, economical and environmentally friendly for remediation of diesel contamination in the aqueous medium, and have potential applications in the future.

Study on a Strain of Lysinibacillus sp. with the Potential to Improve the Quality of Oil Sands.

A strain of Lysinibacillus sp., named as Y316, can degrade heavy fractions such as resins and asphaltenes in oil sand. We used Y316 to degrade oil sand samples for 35 days. After bacterial degradation, the oil sand degradation efficiency was 5.88%, while the degradation efficiency of the control group was only 0.29% under the same conditions. Compared with the control group, the saturated content of oil sand in the degradation group increased from 9.56 to 14.39%. After degradation, the resin and asphaltene fractions decreased by 5.34 and 4.77%, respectively. The results of the vaporizable fraction analysis also confirmed the degradation of heavy fractions and the formation of light fractions. After 35 days of degradation, the vaporizable fractions of saturates increased by 3.76 times. The results indicate that Y316 has great significance for improving the quality of oil sands and assisting in oil sand exploitation.

Molecular imprinted electrospun chromogenic membrane for l-tyrosine specific recognition and visualized detection.

In this work, molecularly imprinted electrospun chromogenic membrane(MIP-ECM) was synthesized using P-Hydroxybenzene propanoic acid as imitate template molecule and Poly (vinyl alcohol)(PVA) as substrate. Ninhydrin is used as chromogenic agent for visualizing detection of target molecule l-tyrosine(Tyr). The results showed that molecularly imprinted membrane exhibited selectivity and specific adsorption capacity for l-tyrosine. The influences of environmental factors, such as reaction temperature, the amount of ninhydrin and elution time, on chromogenic properties were examined by SEM and optical microscope. Gray value analysis is proceeded by software Image J. Due to the facilitate preparation and intuitive visualization, the proposed method was a promising candidate for selective recognition of bio-generated acid and amino molecules.

Preparation and specific recognition of protein macromolecularly imprinted polyampholyte hydrogel.

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) imprinted polyampholyte hydrogels (PAHs) were prepared by free radical polymerization using acrylamide (Am) as structural monomer, N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm), [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride (DMC) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) as functional monomers and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker in aqueous solution. The morphology of imprinted hydrogels and non-imprinted hydrogels were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The adsorption and recognition properties were evaluated as functions of Am monomer concentration, NIPAm/Am molar ratio, crosslinking structure and charge density ratio etc. The adsorption capacity and association constant of specific interaction between hydrogel and template protein were analyzed by Langmuir isotherm model and Freundlich model. The fitting experimental data suggested that this adsorption was better described as a monolayer adsorption. The specific adsorption on hydrogel with different crosslinking structure was investigated by selective binding BSA from single solution and binary mixture solution. The charge density ratio in molecular imprinting hydrogel had obvious influence for protein adsorption and recognition. The resultant of regeneration tests showed that elution had large impact on deterioration of the imprinting structure.

Controlled mechanical and swelling properties of urethane acrylate grafted calcium alginate hydrogels.

Vinyl group capped urethane acrylate (UA) was prepared with diisocyanate (IPDI), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and dimethylolpropionic acid (DMPA). The UA was grafted onto sodium alginate via free-radical polymerization with KPS/Na2SO3 as initiator and then crosslinked by Ca(2+). Grafted polymers (UA-g-CaA) were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TGA, XRD and tension gauge. The swelling behavior was also investigated. It is found that urethane acrylate grafted calcium alginate possesses lower swelling degree and is improved in thermal stability as well as mechanical performance. The reason is that hydrophobic urethane acrylate provides alginate with physical crosslinking and forms partial crystal regions. The optimum condition for synthesis of UA-g-CaA with lower swelling degree is that weight percentage of initiator to monomer is 0.8%, mass ratio of reductant to oxidant is 0.45:1, monomer concentration is 0.0385mol/L and grafting reaction temperature is 55°C.