Electrocoagulation: A promising method to treat and reuse mineral processing wastewater with high COD

Mineral processing wastewater contains large amounts of reagents which can lead to severe environmental problems, such as high chemical oxygen demand (COD). Inspired by the wastewater treatment in such industries as those of textiles, food, and petrochemistry, in the present work, electrocoagulation (EC) is applied for the first time to explore its feasibility in the treatment of wastewater with an initial COD of 424.29 mg/L from a Pb/Zn sulfide mineral flotation plant and its effect on water reuse. Typical parameters, such as anode materials, current density, initial pH, and additives, were characterized to evaluate the performance of the EC method. The results showed that, under optimal conditions, i.e., iron anode, pH 7.1, electrolysis time 70 min, 19.23 mA/cm2 current density, and 4.1 g/L activated carbon, the initial COD can be reduced to 72.9 mg/L, corresponding to a removal rate of 82.8%. In addition, compared with the untreated wastewater, EC-treated wastewater was found to benefit the recovery of galena and sphalerite, with galena recovery increasing from 25.01% to 36.06% and sphalerite recovery increasing from 59.99% to 65.33%. This study confirmed that EC is a promising method for the treatment and reuse of high-COD-containing wastewater in the mining industry, and it possesses great potential for wide industrial applications

Efficient display of active lipase LipB52 with a Pichia pastoris cell surface display system and comparison with the LipB52 displayed on Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell surface

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For industrial bioconversion processes, the utilization of surface-displayed lipase in the form of whole-cell biocatalysts is more advantageous, because the enzymes are displayed on the cell surface spontaneously, regarded as immobilized enzymes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two <it>Pichia pastoris </it>cell surface display vectors based on the flocculation functional domain of FLO with its own secretion signal sequence or the α-factor secretion signal sequence were constructed respectively. The lipase gene <it>lipB52 </it>fused with the <it>FLO </it>gene was successfully transformed into <it>Pichia pastoris </it>KM71. The lipase LipB52 was expressed under the control of the <it>AOX1 </it>promoter and displayed on <it>Pichia pastoris </it>KM71 cell surface with the two <it>Pichia pastoris </it>cell surface display vectors. Localization of the displayed LipB52 on the cell surface was confirmed by the confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The LipB52 displayed on the <it>Pichia pastoris </it>cell surface exhibited activity toward <it>p</it>-nitrophenol ester with carbon chain length ranging from C₁₀to C₁₈, and the optimum substrate was <it>p</it>-nitrophenol-caprate (C₁₀), which was consistent with it displayed on the <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>EBY100 cell surface. The hydrolysis activity of lipase LipB52 displayed on <it>Pichia pastoris </it>KM71-pLHJ047 and KM71-pLHJ048 cell surface reached 94 and 91 U/g dry cell, respectively. The optimum temperature of the displayed lipases was 40°C at pH8.0, they retained over 90% activity after incubation at 60°C for 2 hours at pH 7.0, and still retained 85% activity after incubation for 3 hours.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The LipB52 displayed on the <it>Pichia pastoris </it>cell surface exhibited better stability than the lipase LipB52 displayed on <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>cell surface. The displayed lipases exhibited similar transesterification activity. But the <it>Pichia pastoris </it>dry cell weight per liter (DCW/L) ferment culture was about 5 times than <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</it>, the lipase displayed on <it>Pichia pastoris </it>are more suitable for whole-cell biocatalysts than that displayed on <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>cell surface.</p

Highly Efficient Light-Driven TiO_2–Au Janus Micromotors

A highly efficient light-driven photocatalytic TiO_2–Au Janus micromotor with wireless steering and velocity control is described. Unlike chemically propelled micromotors which commonly require the addition of surfactants or toxic chemical fuels, the fuel-free Janus micromotor (diameter ∼1.0 μm) can be powered in pure water under an extremely low ultraviolet light intensity (2.5 × 10^(–3) W/cm^2), and with 40 × 10^(–3) W/cm^2, they can reach a high speed of 25 body length/s, which is comparable to common Pt-based chemically induced self-electrophoretic Janus micromotors. The photocatalytic propulsion can be switched on and off by incident light modulation. In addition, the speed of the photocatalytic TiO_2–Au Janus micromotor can be accelerated by increasing the light intensity or by adding low concentrations of chemical fuel H_2O_2 (i.e., 0.1%). The attractive fuel-free propulsion performance, fast movement triggering response, low light energy requirement, and precise motion control of the TiO_2–Au Janus photocatalytic micromotor hold considerable promise for diverse practical applications