Quantification and characterization of ß-lactam resistance genes in 15 sewage treatment plants from East Asia and North America.

The emerging antibiotic resistance genes in the aquatic environment have aroused public concern. As ß-lactam is the most widely used group of antibiotics, ß-lactam resistance genes were selected to investigate their distribution and diversity in the activated sludge from 15 geographically different sewage treatment plants (STPs) of China, Singapore, USA, and Canada. Specific PCR and quantitative real-time PCR (q-PCR) were used to investigate the occurrence and abundance of nine ß-lactam resistance genes. Five genes (OXA-1, OXA-2, OXA-10, ampC, and TEM-1) were detected in most of the sludge collected, while three genes (mecA, CTX-M-1, and SME) were not found in any sludge sample. The total abundances of the six detected ß-lactam resistance genes in the 15 STPs varied from 5.34 × 10(1) copies/ng DNA (ampC) to 5.49 × 10(4) copies/ng DNA (OXA-1). Overall, OXA-1 had the highest total concentration, followed by IMP and OXA-10. Noticeably, the abundances of TEM-1 in Chinese STPs were generally higher than those in the STPs of other countries, while the abundances of OXA-2 and IMP in the STPs of North America were much greater than those of East Asia. A total of 78 clones carrying ß-lactam resistance genes were randomly selected from six clone libraries for phylogenetic diversity analysis; the similarity of these cloned genes to known ß-lactam resistance genes with sequence identities ranged from 96% to 100%. Furthermore, OXA-1, ampC, and IMP were found to be more diverse than the other ß-lactam resistance genes.

Co-production of hydrogen and methane from potato waste using a two-stage anaerobic digestion process.

Hydrogen and methane co-production from potato waste was examined using a two-stage process of anaerobic digestion. The hydrogen stage was operated in continuous flow under a pH of 5.5 and a HRT of 6h. The methane stage was operated in both continuous and semi-continuous flows under HRTs of 30 h and 90 h, respectively, with pH controlled at 7. A maximum gas production rate of 270 ml/h and an average of 119 ml/h were obtained from the hydrogen stage during the operation over 110 days. The hydrogen concentration contained in the gas was 45% (v/v), on average. The maximum and average gas production rates observed from methane reactor during the 74 days of semi-continuous flow operation were 187 and 141 ml/h, respectively, with an average methane concentration of 76%. Overall, 70% of VS, 64% of total COD in the feedstock were removed. The hydrogen and methane yields from the potato waste were 30 l/kg TS (with a maximum of 68 l/kg) and 183 l/kg TS (with a maximum of 225 l/kg), respectively. The total energy yield obtained was 2.14 kW h/kg TS, with a maximum of 2.74 kW h/kg TS.

Potential for hydrogen and methane production from biomass residues in Canada.

Canada generates approximately 1.45 x 10(8)t of residual biomass per year, containing an estimated energy value of 2.28 x 10(9)GJ, which is equivalent to about 22% of Canada's current annual energy use. Anaerobic digestion of these biomass residues using conventional technologies could generate 1.14 x 10(10)m(3)/year of CH(4) with a heating value of 4.56 x 10(8)GJ. Conversion of these residues using emerging technologies that favor the synthesis of H(2) and represses the synthesis of CH(4) could generate 1.47 x 10(10)m(3)/year renewable H(2), with a heating value of 1.89 x 10(8)GJ. While CH(4)-production results in a larger amount of energy recovery, generating H(2) from waste biomass is a renewable alternative that could fuel the hydrogen economy. Additional research to further both the technical and commercial development of microbial bio-energy from biomass is warranted.

Eliminating methanogenic activity in hydrogen reactor to improve biogas production in a two-stage anaerobic digestion process co-digesting municipal food waste and sewage sludge.

Laboratory scale two-stage anaerobic digestion process model was operated for 280 days to investigate the feasibility to produce both hydrogen and methane from a mixture feedstock (1:1 (v/v)) of municipal food waste and sewage sludge. The maximum hydrogen and methane yields obtained in the two stages were 0.93 and 9.5 mL/mL feedstock. To eliminate methanogenic activity and obtain substantial hydrogen production in the hydrogen reactor, both feedstock and mixed liquor required treatment. The heat treatment (100°C, 10 min) for feedstock and a periodical treatment (every 2-5 weeks, either heating, removal of biomass particles or flushing with air) for mixed liquor were effective in different extent. The methane production in the second stage was significantly improved by the hydrogen production in the first stage. The maximum methane production obtained in the period of high hydrogen production was more than 2-fold of that observed in the low hydrogen production period.

Buffer requirements for enhanced hydrogen production in acidogenic digestion of food wastes.

The requirements for pH buffer addition for hydrogen production and acidogenesis in batch acidogenic digestion of a food waste (FW) feedstock with limited alkalinity was studied at various initial pH conditions (6.0-8.0). The results showed that, without buffer addition, hydrogen production from this feedstock was insignificant regardless of the initial pH. With buffer addition, hydrogen production improved significantly if the initial pH was greater than 6.0. Substantial hydrogen production occurred when the pH at the end of the batch digestion was higher than 5.5. The maximum hydrogen production was found to be 120 mL/g VS added when the initial pH was 6.5 and buffer addition was in the range of 15-20 mmol/g VS. The effect of pH buffering on the formation of volatile fatty acids (acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid) was similar to its effect on hydrogen production. The results of this study clearly indicated shifts in the metabolic pathways with the pH of fermentation. The changes in metabolic pathways impacted upon the dosage of buffer that was required to achieve maximum hydrogen generation.