Mycorrhizal symbiosis enhances Phalaenopsis orchid’s growth and resistance to Erwinia chrysanthemi

Phalaenopsis is the most important potted orchid genus in the world. However, the low seedling survival rate, long vegetative growth period and disease outbreak are problems in production. Orchid micorrhizal fungi (OMF) are their obligate partners in orchid physiology. Orchids use their symbionts to gain access to organic and mineral nutrients by increasing nutrient absorption and translocation to plants under natural conditions. The benefit of orchid mycorrhizal symbiosis using Phalaenopsis as model plants was conducted. We inoculated in vitro grown plantlets of Doritaenopsis Taisuco Wonder ‘King Car Butterfly KC1111’ and Phalaenopsis Tai Lin Redangel ‘V31‘ with two OMF isolates, Ceratobasidium sp. AG-A (R02) and Rizoctonia solani AG-6 (R04). The effects of OMFs on orchid plant growth and Erwinia soft rot progression were examined after two months of ex vitro growth. The results showed that the presence of OMFs in Phalaenopsis roots significantly increased the growth and soft rot resistance of plants. Selectivity of cultivar type to different OMF was also observed. The relevance of this findings and future work are discussed.Key words: Phalaenopsis, orchid micorrhizal fungi, orchid, cultivar type

Microalgae biomass from swine wastewater and its conversion to bioenergy

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Ever-increasing swine wastewater (SW) has become a serious environmental concern. High levels of nutrients and toxic contaminants in SW significantly impact on the ecosystem and public health. On the other hand, swine wastewater is considered as valuable water and nutrient source for microalgae cultivation. The potential for converting the nutrients from SW into valuable biomass and then generating bioenergy from it has drawn increasing attention. For this reason, this review comprehensively discussed the biomass production, SW treatment efficiencies, and bioenergy generation potentials through cultivating microalgae in SW. Microalgae species grow well in SW with large amounts of biomass being produced, despite the impact of various parameters (e.g., nutrients and toxicants levels, cultivation conditions, and bacteria in SW). Pollutants in SW can effectively be removed by harvesting microalgae from SW, and the harvested microalgae biomass elicits high potential for conversion to valuable bioenergy

Status of water use and potential of rainwater harvesting for replacing centralized supply system in remote mountainous areas: a case study.

The failure of the centralized water supply system forced XY community to become more dependent on uncertain and unstable water sources. The results of surveying 50 households showed that 89.18% of total households depended on water collected from rivers, which contributed 58.3% of the total water volume used for the domestic demands. The average water volume consumed was 19.5 liters/person/day (l/p/d), and 86.5% of households used more than one source; 13.5% of households collected water only from rivers, and 45.94% of families had rainwater harvesting (RWH) for their activities (domestic water demand); however, RWH only provided 9.9% of total water consumption. In this study, basic methods were applied to calculate the storage tanks necessary to balance the water deficit created by drought months. Three levels of water demand (14, 20, and 30 l/p/d) can be the best choices for RWH; for a higher demand (40 and 60 l/p/d), small roof area (30-40 m2), and many people (six to seven) per family, RWH might be impractical because of unsuitable rainfall or excessively large storage tanks

Comparative study about the performance of three types of modified natural treatment systems for rice noodle wastewater

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd In this study, three semi-pilot scale systems (vertical flow constructed wetland, multi-soil layering, and integrated hybrid systems) for treating real rice noodle wastewater were operated parallelly for the first time in a tropical climate at a loading rate of 50 L/(m2·d) for more than 7 months to determine the optimal conditions and to compare their treatment performance. The results demonstrated that these systems were appropriate for the removal of organics, suspended solids, and total coliform (Tcol). The highest reductions in chemical oxygen demand (CODCr, 73.2%), phosphorus (PO4-P, 54%), and Tcol (4.78 log MPN/100 mL inactivation) were obtained by the integrated hybrid system, while the highest removal efficiencies of ammonium (NH4-N, 60.64%) and suspended solids (80.49%) were achieved in the vertical-flow-constructed wetland and multi-soil layering systems respectively

Influences of operational parameters on phosphorus removal in batch and continuous electrocoagulation process performance

© 2017, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany. Performance of an electrocoagulation (EC) process in batch and continuous operating modes was thoroughly investigated and evaluated for enhancing wastewater phosphorus removal under various operating conditions, individually or combined with initial phosphorus concentration, wastewater conductivity, current density, and electrolysis times. The results revealed excellent phosphorus removal (72.7–100%) for both processes within 3–6 min of electrolysis, with relatively low energy requirements, i.e., less than 0.5 kWh/m3 for treated wastewater. However, the removal efficiency of phosphorus in the continuous EC operation mode was better than that in batch mode within the scope of the study. Additionally, the rate and efficiency of phosphorus removal strongly depended on operational parameters, including wastewater conductivity, initial phosphorus concentration, current density, and electrolysis time. Based on experimental data, statistical model verification of the response surface methodology (RSM) (multiple factor optimization) was also established to provide further insights and accurately describe the interactive relationship between the process variables, thus optimizing the EC process performance. The EC process using iron electrodes is promising for improving wastewater phosphorus removal efficiency, and RSM can be a sustainable tool for predicting the performance of the EC process and explaining the influence of the process variables

Feasibility study on a double chamber microbial fuel cell for nutrient recovery from municipal wastewater

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is currently considered a promising technology for wastewater treatment. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a double-chamber MFC in terms of: (i) operating mode (batch mode, self-circulation mode, single-continuous mode) of anolyte on the nutrient accumulation in the catholyte, (ii) aeration conditions (anode effluent with aeration supplied in catholyte; anode effluent without aeration supplied in catholyte; cathode effluent with aeration supplied in catholyte and cathode effluent without aeration supplied in catholyte) on the nutrient recovery and (iii) types of separators (cation exchange membrane (CEM), forward osmosis (FO), and nonwoven (NW)) to remove nutrients toward their recovery from municipal wastewater. Results showed that there was no negligible increase in the phosphate concentration of the catholyte at the three different modes but accumulation of ammonium. At different aeration conditions, nutrients can be recovered by chemical precipitation at high pH generated by the MFC itself. Basically, phosphate was removed by microbial absorption and recovered by chemical precipitation while ammonium was accumulated by current generation and recovered as precipitates. It was found that double-chamber MFC with the CEM as the separator reported the best nutrients removal with >97.58% of NH4+-N and >94.9% of PO43−-P removed/recovered, followed by the MFC with the nonwoven and FO membrane, respectively. Thus, the double-chamber MFC is feasible for recovering nutrients in a comprehensive bioelectrochemical system

Dry semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of food waste in the mesophilic and thermophilic modes: New aspects of sustainable management and energy recovery in South Korea

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd In this study, parallel, bench-scale, mesophilic and thermophilic, dry, semi-continuous anaerobic digestion (DScAD) of Korea food waste (FW, containing 22% total solids (TS) and 20% volatile solids (VS)) was investigated thoroughly under varying operational conditions, including hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and organic loading rates (OLRs). The aim was to evaluate the start-up, stability, overall removal efficiency, and inhibitory effects of toxic compounds on process performance over a long-term operation lasting 100 days. The results from both digesters indicate that the simultaneous reduction of VS and the production of gas improved as the HRT decreased or the OLR increased. The highest average rates of VS reduction (79.67%) and biogas production (162.14 m3biogas/ton of FW, 61.89% CH4), at an OLR of 8.62 ± 0.34 kg VS/m3day (25 days of HRT), were achieved under thermophilic DScAD. In addition, the average rates of reduction of VS and the production of biogas in thermophilic DScAD were higher by 6.88% and 16.4%, respectively, than were those in mesophilic DScAD. The inhibitory effects of ammonia, H2S, and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) on methane production was not clear from either of the digesters, although, apparently, their concentrations did fluctuate. This fluctuation could be attributed to the self-adaptation of the microbial well. However, digestion that was more stable and faster was observed under thermophilic conditions compared with that under mesophilic conditions. Based on our results, the optimum operational parameters to improve FW treatment and achieve higher energy yields could be determined, expanding the application of DScAD in treating organic wastes

Improving sulfonamide antibiotics removal from swine wastewater by supplying a new pomelo peel derived biochar in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor.

Sulfonamide antibiotics (SMs), as a class of antibiotics commonly used in swine industries, pose a serious threat to animal and human health. This study aims to evaluate the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) with and without supplying a new pomelo peel derived biochar to treat swine wastewater containing SMs. Results show that 0.5 g/L biochar addition could increase more than 30% of sulfadiazine (SDZ) and sulfamethazine (SMZ) removal in AnMBR. Approximately 95% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was removed in the AnMBR at an influent organic loading rate (OLR) of 3.27 kg COD/(m3·d) while an average methane yield was 0.2 L/g CODremoved with slightly change at a small dose 0.5 g/L biochar addition. SMs inhibited the COD removal and methane production and increased membrane fouling. The addition of biochar could reduce the membrane fouling by reducing the concentration of SMP and EPS

A critical review on ammonium recovery from wastewater for sustainable wastewater management

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The growing global population's demand for ammonium has triggered an increase in its supply, given that ammonium plays a crucial role in fertilizer production for the purpose of food security. Currently, ammonia used in fertilizer production is put through what is known as the industrial Haber Bosch process, but this approach is substantially expensive and requires much energy. For this reason, looking for effective methods to recover ammonium is important for environmental sustainability. One of the greatest opportunities for ammonium recovery occurs in wastewater treatment plants due to wastewater containing a large quantity of ammonium ions. The comprehensively and critically review studies on ammonium recovery conducted, have the potential to be applied in current wastewater treatment operations. Technologies and their ammonium recovery mechanisms are included in this review. Furthermore the economic feasibility of such processes is analysed. Possible future directions for ammonium recovery from wastewater are suggested

Influence of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment on physicochemical properties and anaerobic biodegradability of waste activated sludge with different solids content

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The influence of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP) on physicochemical properties (pH, total solids, volatile solids, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, volatile fatty acids, viscosity, and cell morphology) and anaerobic biodegradability of highly concentrated waste activated sludge (WAS) with TS content ranging from 1 to 7% was evaluated at different temperatures ranging from 100 to 220 °C. The biomethane potential (BMP) of the WAS was systematically analyzed and evaluated. Images of its cellular structure were also analyzed. The results indicated that THP is a useful method for solubilizing volatile solids and enhancing CH 4 production regardless of the TS content of the WAS feed. The ultimate CH 4 production determined from the BMP analysis was 313–348 L CH 4 /kg VS (72.6–74.1% CH 4 ) at the optimum THP temperature of 180 °C. The results showed that THP could improve both the capacity and efficiency of anaerobic digestion, even at a high TS content, and could achieve the dual purpose of sludge reduction and higher energy recovery