Comparison of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis for synthesis of biodiesel from Madhuca indica oil

Biodiesel was developed by transesterification of Madhuca indica oil by homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. KOH and CaO were taken as homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts, respectively. It was found that the homogeneous catalyst (KOH) took 1.0 h of reaction time, 6:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, 0.75 mass% of catalyst amount, 55±0.5 C reaction temperature for completion of the reaction. The heterogeneous catalyst (CaO) was found to give optimum yield in 2.5 h of reaction time at 8:1 methanol to oil molar ratio, 2.5 mass% of catalyst amount, at 65±0.5 C. A high yield (95-97%) and conversion (>96.5%) was obtained from both the catalysts. CaO was found to leach to some extent in the reactants and a biodiesel conversion of 27-28% was observed as a result of leaching

Marine Actinobacteria Bioflocculant: A Storehouse of Unique Biotechnological Resources for Wastewater Treatment and Other Applications

Staff PublicationThe bioactive compounds produced by actinobacteria have played a major role in antimicrobials, bioremediation, biofuels, enzymes, and anti-cancer activities. Biodegradable microbial flocculants have been produced by bacteria, algae, and fungi. Microbial bioflocculants have also attracted biotechnology importance over chemical flocculants as a result of degradability and environmentally friendly attributes they possess. Though, freshwater actinobacteria flocculants have been explored in bioflocculation. Yet, there is a paucity of information on the application of actinobacteria flocculants isolated from the marine environment. Similarly, marine habitats that supported the biodiversity of actinobacteria strains in the field of biotechnology have been underexplored in bioflocculation. Hence, this review reiterates the need to optimize culture conditions and other parameters that a ect bioflocculant production by using a response surface model or artificial neural network

MiDAS 4: A global catalogue of full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences and taxonomy for studies of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants

Microbial communities are responsible for biological wastewater treatment, but our knowledge of their diversity and function is still poor. Here, we sequence more than 5 million high-quality, full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences from 740 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across the world and use the sequences to construct the ‘MiDAS 4’ database. MiDAS 4 is an amplicon sequence variant resolved, full-length 16S rRNA gene reference database with a comprehensive taxonomy from domain to species level for all sequences. We use an independent dataset (269 WWTPs) to show that MiDAS 4, compared to commonly used universal reference databases, provides a better coverage for WWTP bacteria and an improved rate of genus and species level classification. Taking advantage of MiDAS 4, we carry out an amplicon-based, global-scale microbial community profiling of activated sludge plants using two common sets of primers targeting regions of the 16S rRNA gene, revealing how environmental conditions and biogeography shape the activated sludge microbiota. We also identify core and conditionally rare or abundant taxa, encompassing 966 genera and 1530 species that represent approximately 80% and 50% of the accumulated read abundance, respectively. Finally, we show that for well-studied functional guilds, such as nitrifiers or polyphosphate-accumulating organisms, the same genera are prevalent worldwide, with only a few abundant species in each genus.Fil: Dueholm, Morten Kam Dahl. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Nierychlo, Marta. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Andersen, Kasper Skytte. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Rudkjøbing, Vibeke. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Knutsson, Simon. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Arriaga, Sonia. Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; MéxicoFil: Bakke, Rune. University College of Southeast Norway; NoruegaFil: Boon, Nico. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Bux, Faizal. Durban University of Technology; SudáfricaFil: Christensson, Magnus. Veolia Water Technologies Ab; SueciaFil: Chua, Adeline Seak May. University Malaya; MalasiaFil: Curtis, Thomas P.. University of Newcastle; Reino UnidoFil: Cytryn, Eddie. Agricultural Research Organization Of Israel; IsraelFil: Erijman, Leonardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Etchebehere, Claudia. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas "Clemente Estable"; UruguayFil: Fatta Kassinos, Despo. University of Cyprus; ChipreFil: Frigon, Dominic. McGill University; CanadáFil: Garcia Chaves, Maria Carolina. Universidad de Antioquia; ColombiaFil: Gu, April Z.. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Horn, Harald. Karlsruher Institut Für Technologie; AlemaniaFil: Jenkins, David. David Jenkins & Associates Inc; Estados UnidosFil: Kreuzinger, Norbert. Tu Wien; AustriaFil: Kumari, Sheena. Durban University of Technology; SudáfricaFil: Lanham, Ana. University of Bath; Reino UnidoFil: Law, Yingyu. Singapore Centre For Environmental Life Sciences Engineering; SingapurFil: Leiknes, TorOve. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Morgenroth, Eberhard. Eth Zürich; SuizaFil: Muszyński, Adam. Politechnika Warszawska; PoloniaFil: Petrovski, Steve. La Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Pijuan, Maite. Catalan Institute For Water Research; EspañaFil: Pillai, Suraj Babu. Va Tech Wabag Ltd; IndiaFil: Reis, Maria A. M.. Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Rong, Qi. Chinese Academy of Sciences; ChinaFil: Rossetti, Simona. Istituto Di Ricerca Sulle Acque (irsa) ; Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche;Fil: Seviour, Robert. La Trobe University; AustraliaFil: Tooker, Nick. University of Massachussets; Estados UnidosFil: Vainio, Pirjo. Espoo R&D Center; FinlandiaFil: van Loosdrecht, Mark. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Vikraman, R.. VA Tech Wabag, Philippines Inc; FilipinasFil: Wanner, Jiří. University of Chemistry And Technology; República ChecaFil: Weissbrodt, David. Delft University of Technology; Países BajosFil: Wen, Xianghua. Tsinghua University; ChinaFil: Zhang, Tong. The University of Hong Kong; Hong KongFil: Nielsen, Per H.. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Albertsen, Mads. Aalborg University; DinamarcaFil: Nielsen, Per Halkjær. Aalborg University; Dinamarc

Coronaviruses in wastewater processes: Source, fate and potential risks

The last 17 years have seen three major outbreaks caused by coronaviruses, with the latest outbreak, COVID-19, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The frequency of these outbreaks, their mortality and associated disruption to normal life calls for concerted efforts to understand their occurrence and fate in different environments. There is an increased interest in the occurrence of coronaviruses in wastewater from the perspective of wastewater-based epidemiology. However, there is no comprehensive review of the knowledge on coronavirus occurrence, fate and potential transmission in wastewater. This paper, provides a review of the literature on the occurrence of coronaviruses in wastewater treatment processes. We discuss the presence of viral RNA in feces as a result of diarrhoea caused by gastrointestinal infections. We also reviewed the literature on the presence, survival and potential removal of coronaviruses in common wastewater treatment processes. The detection of infectious viral particles in feces of patients raises questions on the potential risks of infection for people exposed to untreated sewage/wastewater. We, therefore, highlighted the potential risk of infection with coronaviruses for workers in wastewater treatment plants and the public that may be exposed through faulty plumbing or burst sewer networks. The mortalities and morbidities associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic warrants a much more focused research on the role of environments, such as wastewater and surface water, in disease transmission. The current wealth of knowledge on coronaviruses in wastewater based on the reviewed literature is scant and therefore calls for further studies

Antibiotic Residue in the Aquatic Environment: Status in Africa

Information on the presence of antibiotics is sparse for all types of water in Africa, including groundwater, surface water, effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and municipal potable water. With the relatively high sales of different antibiotics to treat infectious diseases in the human population of Africa, the residual of the antibiotics is bound to be released through excretion via urine or fecal matter in parallel to the high sales. This article reviews the published analysis on the occurrence of antibiotics in the environment particularly in the aquatic environment in some countries in Africa. In general, sulfamethoxazole was the most commonly detected in Africa surface water (with eight reports from four countries) at a concentration range of 0.00027 – 39 μgL-1. Wastewater analysis is believed to give an early warning for preventing epidemics. Thus, we discuss the associated level of antibiotic resistance to some prevalent diseases in Africa whose aetiological agents can develop antibiotic resistance due to exposure to antibiotic residue in water. This is important because of rising population of immuno-deficient African residents ravaged by HIV/AIDS, poor nutrition and less efficient sanitation systems

Efficiency of chlorine and UV in the inactivation of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in wastewater.

Wastewater from different sources is contaminated by protozoan parasites including Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Many protozoan parasites are becoming resistant to chemical treatment. The challenge of finding alternatives is presented to researchers by exploring other methods of eliminating protozoan parasites from wastewater. The aim of this study was to assess the speciation and the viability of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in environmental samples with the specific objective of evaluating if effluent chlorination and UV affect the viability. Different doses of chlorine with different exposure times were experimented with both distilled water and waste water spiked with (oo)cysts derived from environmental samples. UV irradiation at different doses was also experimented using the same spiked samples. Two methods of quantification and detection, namely, microscopy and flow cytometry, were used in the experiment. Two vital dyes, Syto-9+PI and DAPI+PI, were the used for staining the collected wastewater samples. It was found that the (oo)cysts responded to chlorination and UV treatments with Giardia responding better than Cryptosporidium. Giardia responded very well to UV irradiations with almost 0 percent remaining viable after a low dose of UV. Cryptosporidium was found to be resistant to chlorination even at high doses but responded well to high UV doses. DAPI+PI dye gave a lower mean percentage viability values than Syto-9+PI. Flow cytometry gave higher mean percentage than microscopy from the results. It is concluded that UV is a promising alternative to Chlorine in removing Cryptosporidium and Giardia from waste water. Appropriate treatment method for wastewater is necessary to minimize water resources pollution when wastewater is released into water systems

Data_Sheet_1_Biological nitrogen removal from low carbon wastewater.PDF

Nitrogen has traditionally been removed from wastewater by nitrification and denitrification processes, in which organic carbon has been used as an electron donor during denitrification. However, some wastewaters contain low concentrations of organic carbon, which may require external organic carbon supply, increasing treatment costs. As a result, processes such as partial nitrification/anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) (PN/A), autotrophic denitrification, nitritation-denitritation and bioelectrochemical processes have been studied as possible alternatives, and are thus evaluated in this study based on process kinetics, applicability at large-scale and process configuration. Oxygen demand for nitritation-denitritation and PN/A is 25% and 60% lower than for nitrification/denitrification, respectively. In addition, PN/A process does not require organic carbon supply, while its supply for nitritation-denitritation is 40% less than for nitrification/denitrification. Both PN/A and nitritation-denitritation produce less sludge compared to nitrification/denitrification, which saves on sludge handling costs. Similarly, autotrophic denitrification generates less sludge compared to heterotrophic denitrification and could save on sludge handling costs. However, autotrophic denitrification driven by metallic ions, elemental sulfur (S) and its compounds could generate harmful chemicals. On the other hand, hydrogenotrophic denitrification can remove nitrogen completely without generation of harmful chemicals, but requires specialized equipment for generation and handling of hydrogen gas (H2), which complicates process configuration. Bioelectrochemical processes are limited by low kinetics and complicated process configuration. In sum, anammox-mediated processes represent the best alternative to nitrification/denitrification for nitrogen removal in low- and high-strength wastewaters.</p

Towards Sustainable Energy: Harnessing Microalgae Biofuels for a Greener Future

Bioenergy productions from microalgae have received wide attention recently and have a high potential to replace fossil fuels. Moreover, due to the high photosynthetic efficiency, microalgae mass cultivation and scale-up are believed to efficiently reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. This review article explores the potential of microalgae as a reliable and sustainable source of bioenergy feedstock. The current review article contains an in-depth discussion of the various methods of producing energy using microalgae, viz. algal fuel cell (AFC), microbial fuel cell (MFC), bioethanol and biodiesel, and various other applications. This article discussed the different aspects of AFC and MFC, such as fuel cell configurations, reaction mechanisms at electrodes, reactor design factors affecting the efficiencies, and strategies to enhance the efficiencies. Moreover, microalgae cultivation, value-added compounds (pigments, polysaccharides, unsaturated fatty acids), liquid fuel production, limitations, the global scenario of microalgae biomass-based energy, and significant advancements in this field. In a nutshell, this review serves as a valuable resource for identifying, developing, and harnessing the potential of microalgae as a promising biofuel source