Assessing Pistia stratiotes for phytoremediation of silver nanoparticles and Ag(I) contaminated waters.

To study the phytoremediation capabilities of Pistia stratiotes in silver nanoparticle (AgNP) and silver ion contaminated wastewaters, individual plants were grown in media spiked with different concentrations of silver nanoparticle and silver ions (0.02, 0.2, and 2 mg L(-1)). Control experiments were carried out at the same time for comparison purposes. Visual changes in the plants were also recorded periodically during each experiment. Total silver concentrations were monitored in the media before, during, and at the termination of the experiments. In addition, analysis of total silver in plant root and leaf samples after termination were carried out to determine the effect of the different media concentrations. The results showed that P. stratiotes can survive in AgNP and ions under 0.02 mg L(-1) and contaminants are retained within the plant. The use of P. stratiotes as a phytoremediator shows potential in removing heavy metal nanoparticles and is competitive in its removal of the ion counterpart. Even higher concentrations of silver, regardless of form, can be reduced to lower levels than the World Health Organization's maximum contamination limit.

Gold nanoparticles embedded Fe-BTC (AuNPs@Fe-BTC) metal-organic framework as a fluorescence sensor for the selective detection of As(III) in contaminated waters.

In this article, a new off-mode fluorescent platform based on the metal-organic framework (MOF) is introduced as a highly selective and rapid chemical sensor for the detection of As(III) in water and wastewater samples. A typical Fe-BTC (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate or trimesic acid) MOF was used as a porous template for loading gold nanoparticles (AuNPs@Fe-BTC MOF). The physicochemical properties of AuNPs@Fe-BTC MOF were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EAX), element mapping (MAP) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. This sensing method for As(III) ions is based on the fact that the fluorescence intensity of AuNPs@Fe-BTC MOF sensor decreases in proportion to the increase in As(III) concentration. The main effective factors on the performance of the sensor signal such as MOF dosage, sonication time, pH and reaction time were optimized. Under optimized conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the concentration range of 0.5-380 ng mL-1 of As(III) and the limit of detection was 0.2 ng mL-1. The proposed method was successfully validated by addition/recovery experiments by the determination of As(III) in four river water and two wastewater effluent samples.

Characterization of a Novel Hypotrich Ciliate From Heavy Metal-Contaminated Industrial Outlet in Onsan, Ulsan, South Korea.

Very few studies exist on the description of protozoan ciliates from industrially contaminated sites. In this study, we report a description of a novel hypotrich ciliate isolated from water samples collected from an industrially contaminated outlet in Onsan, Ulsan, South Korea. The oxytrichid ciliate, Histriculus tolerans n. sp., was investigated using live observation and protargol impregnation. The morphology, morphogenesis, and molecular phylogeny inferred from small-subunit (SSU) rRNA gene sequences were studied. The new species is mainly characterized by a cell size of about 70 × 40 µm in vivo, two elongate ellipsoidal macronuclear nodules and one or two micronuclei, adoral zone of about 51% of body length with 32 membranelles on average, about 34 cirri in the right and 24 cirri in the left marginal row, 18 frontoventral transverse cirri, six dorsal kineties including two dorsomarginal rows, and dorsal kinety 1 with 26 bristles. Morphogenesis is similar to that of the type species, i.e., Histriculus histrio, except that oral primordium does not contribute to anlage II of the proter. Phylogenetic analyses, based on small-subunit rRNA gene sequences, consistently place the new species within the family Oxytrichidae, clustering with H. histrio.

Geochemical modeling of chromium release in natural waters and treatment by RO/NF membrane processes.

In this work, a geochemical approach was used as strong-scientific tool for pre-selection of suitable remediation systems to treat Cr-contaminated groundwaters. The geochemical characterization allowed to select Nanofiltration (NF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) as suitable remediation processes, whereas through a new geochemical modeling, the evolution of water chemistry during the water-rock interaction was also studied. The new reaction path modelling was performed re-evaluating the role of Fe as main oxidant in the system and the analytic concentrations of relevant solutes, including Cr(VI), were reproduced. The spring with the highest Cr(VI) content was treated to lower its concentration below the threshold values. A laboratory-scale set-up was used to carry out both NF and RO experiments. The experiments were conducted on different commercial membranes varying the operating pressures. The results showed high Cr(VI) rejections (around 95%) for all tested membranes, leading to Cr(VI) concentrations below the threshold limits. The high flux, obtained already at lower operating pressures, combined with high selectivity towards Cr(VI) makes NF a favorable remediation option.

Stevensite-based geofilter for the retention of tetracycline from water.

The antibiotic tetracycline, is considered a contaminant of emerging concern due to its presence in wastewater effluents, surface waters and groundwaters. Adsorption of tetracycline on soils and clays has been extensively studied to remove the contaminant from the water. A decreasing adsorption as the pH increases is normally reported in the pH range 3-9. However, adsorption isotherms performed on a commercial stevensite presented increasing adsorption with the increasing pH, in the pH range 2-8. This is very interesting since the pH in natural and wasterwaters are normally in the range 6-8. A laboratory design of a geofilter using a mixture of sand and stevensite was tested against an inflow solution of tetracycline 1 g/L, NaNO3 0.1 M and pH = 7 in an advective transport cell experiment. The number of tetracycline molecules exceed by >3 times the number exchangeable positions in the stevensite geofilter. Under these conditions, the TC adsorption on the geofilter reaches 590 mg/g, surpassing the retention capacity of most adsorbents found in literature. Besides, the tetracycline is completely desorbed by the inflow of a saline solution (Mg(NO3)2 0.5 M, at pH = 2) with capacity to replace the exchangeable positions, thus, recovering the geofilter and the tetracycline.

Insights in the regulation of the degradation of PAHs in Novosphingobium sp. HR1a and utilization of this regulatory system as a tool for the detection of PAHs.

Novosphingobium sp. HR1a is able to grow using diverse polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as the sole carbon sources. We have identified two transposons that contain genes encoding several ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases and we have demonstrated the crucial role of one of these dioxygenases in the PAH metabolism in this strain; a mutant in the large subunit of this dioxygenase was unable to growth with 2-, 3-, or 4-rings aromatic hydrocarbons. Using a construction of lacZ gene fused with the pathway promoter, we determined that the expression of the dioxygenase gene was specifically induced in the presence of some PAHs and intermediates of their metabolic pathway. In silico analysis of the ORFs within the transposons and construction of the corresponding knock-out mutants allowed us to identify the main regulatory protein involved in PAH degradation in Novosphingobium sp. HR1a. To our knowledge this is the first time that a regulatory protein controlling the degradation pathway of high-molecular weight PAHs has been investigated. A deeper knowledge of the regulatory circuits that control the expression of PAH degradation has allowed us to design two biosensors for monitoring environments contaminated with oil-derived mixtures. Novosphingobium sp. HR1a (pKSR-1), the biosensor based on the promoter of the regulatory protein PahR, was more sensitive and faster in the detection of aromatic contaminants in environmental samples than Novosphingobium sp. HR1a (pKSA-1), the biosensor that is based on the PAHs-dioxygenase promoter (PpahA). Novosphingobium sp. HR1a (pKSR-1) was able to detect PAHs in the range of µgl-1 (ppb).

Selective removal of uranium ions from contaminated waters using modified-X nanozeolite.

In order to efficiently remove of uranium anionic species (which are the most dominant species of uranium in natural water at neutral pH) from contaminated waters, nano-NaX zeolite was synthesized and then modified using various divalent cations (Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+) and ZnO nanoparticles (from 1.7 to 10.3wt%). Different characterization techniques of XRF, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, FT-IR, and AAS were used to characterize the final synthesized absorbents. Sorption experiments by batch technique were done to study the effect of solid-liquid ratio, initial uranium concentration, contact time and temperature under neutral condition of pH and presence of all anions and cations which are available in the waters. Results showed that although nano-NaX zeolite due to its negative framework charge had a low sorption capacity for adsorption of uranium anionic species, but modification of parent nano-NaX zeolite with ZnO nanoparticles and various cations effectively improved its uranium adsorption capacity. Also, results showed that under optimum condition of pH=7.56, contact time of 60min at 27°C with solid-liquid ratio of 20g/L a maximum uranium removal efficiency of 99.7% can be obtained in the presence of all anions and cations which are available in the drinking waters by NaX/ZnO nanocomposite.