Biochar application for the remediation of soil contaminated with potentially toxic elements: Current situation and challenges.

Recently, biochar has garnered extensive attention in the remediation of soils contaminated with potentially toxic elements (PTEs) owing to its exceptional adsorption properties and straightforward operation. Most researchers have primarily concentrated on the effects, mechanisms, impact factors, and risks of biochar in remediation of PTEs. However, concerns about the long-term safety and impact of biochar have restricted its application. This review aims to establish a basis for the large-scale popularization of biochar for remediating PTEs-contaminated soil based on a review of interactive mechanisms between soil, PTEs and biochar, as well as the current situation of biochar for remediation in PTEs scenarios. Biochar can directly interact with PTEs or indirectly with soil components, influencing the bioavailability, mobility, and toxicity of PTEs. The efficacy of biochar in remediation varies depending on biomass feedstock, pyrolysis temperature, type of PTEs, and application rate. Compared to pristine biochar, modified biochar offers feasible solutions for tailoring specialized biochar suited to specific PTEs-contaminated soil. Main challenges limiting the applications of biochar are overdose and potential risks. The used biochar is separated from the soil that not only actually removes PTEs, but also mitigates the negative long-term effects of biochar. A sustainable remediation technology is advocated that enables the recovery and regeneration (95.0-95.6%) of biochar from the soil and the removal of PTEs (the removal rate of Cd is more than 20%) from the soil. Finally, future research directions are suggested to augment the environmental safety of biochar and promote its wider application.

Field tests of in-well electrolysis removal of arsenic from high phosphate and iron groundwater.

Subsurface arsenic (As) removal has been proposed for in situ immobilizing As in aquifers at a low cost and without post-disposal of As-containing wastes. However, the results reported for field tests are very limited, particularly when high As, phosphate (P) and iron (Fe) coexist in the groundwater. Herein the performance of single- and multiple-well operations was evaluated for in situ removing groundwater As in Jianghan Plain, central China. To enhance groundwater oxygenation, in-well electrolysis was employed in both operation modes. The groundwater in confined aquifer in Jianghan Plain contains elevated concentrations of As (272-606 µg/L), Fe2+ (4.7-14.3 mg/L) and P (0.90-1.58 mg/L). In the single-well operation with cycles of injection and abstraction, groundwater Fe2+ was completely removed but As cannot be reduced to below the World Health Organization guideline (10 µg/L) due to the high concentration and the competition of coexisting P. In-well electrolysis is cost-effective for boosting dissolved oxygen (DO) and Fe2+ removal in single-well operations. In the multiple-well operation with one abstraction well surrounded by 6 in-well electrolysis wells, removals of groundwater As, Fe, P and Mn were not sufficient because of clogging of treatment wells and incomplete capture of groundwater flowing to the abstraction well. In comparison, single-well operation is more simple and efficient for in situ treatment of groundwater As and Fe than multiple-well operation. This study provides a field example of in situ removing high As in groundwater by both single- and multiple-well operations, and underscores the difficulty in treating the groundwater with coexistence of elevated As and P.

Extractive Fermentation of Lactic Acid in Lactic Acid Bacteria Cultivation: A Review.

Lactic acid bacteria are industrially important microorganisms recognized for their fermentative ability mostly in their probiotic benefits as well as lactic acid production for various applications. Nevertheless, lactic acid fermentation often suffers end-product inhibition which decreases the cell growth rate. The inhibition of lactic acid is due to the solubility of the undissociated lactic acid within the cytoplasmic membrane and insolubility of dissociated lactate, which causes acidification of cytoplasm and failure of proton motive forces. This phenomenon influences the transmembrane pH gradient and decreases the amount of energy available for cell growth. In general, the restriction imposed by lactic acid on its fermentation can be avoided by extractive fermentation techniques, which can also be exploited for product recovery.

The enhancement of butanol production by in situ butanol removal using biodiesel extraction in the fermentation of ABE (acetone-butanol-ethanol).

High butanol accumulation is due to feedback inhibition which leads to the low butanol productivity observed in acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. The aim of this study is to use biodiesel as an extractant for the in situ removal of butanol from the broth. The results indicate that adding biodiesel as an extractant at the beginning of fermentation significantly enhances butanol production. No significant toxicity of biodiesel on the growth of Clostridium acetobutylicum is observed. In the fed-batch operation with glucose feeding, the maximum total butanol obtained is 31.44 g/L, as compared to the control batch (without the addition of biodiesel) at 9.85 g/L. Moreover, the productivity obtained is 0.295 g/L h in the fed-batch, which is higher than that of 0.185 g/L h for the control batch. The in situ butanol removal by the addition of biodiesel has great potential for commercial ABE production.