Extraction and valorization of cellulose from municipal and industrial waste biomass

La cel·lulosa és el polímer orgànic més abundant del planeta. A causa de les seves propietats, com la biocompatibilitat, la biodegradabilitat, l'estabilitat tèrmica i química, s'ha utilitzat en moltes aplicacions. La cel·lulosa es pot obtenir a partir de residus de biomassa sense exposar els subministraments d'aliments i pinsos, els boscos i la biodiversitat al món. La biomassa es compon de fibres de cel·lulosa incrustades en una matriu sòlida de lignina i hemicel·luloses. Per alliberar-los s’han de realitzar processos de pretractament de biomassa. Durant els darrers anys ha cridat una gran atenció la dissolució de biomassa lignocelulosica en líquid iònic. Els líquids iònics s’utilitzen com a reemplaçament verd de dissolvents orgànics volàtils perjudicials pel seu caràcter no volàtil, una excel·lent estabilitat química i tèrmica. Aquesta tesi investiga l’extracció i valorització de la cel·lulosa a partir de residus de biomassa: fangs de paper industrial, fangs d’aigües residuals municipals i estufa de blat de moro agrícola com a font potencial d’hidrats de carboni, principalment cel·lulosa, que es poden convertir en molècules de valor afegit. Al mateix temps, aquest treball segueix el concepte d’economia circular per a residus de biomassa.La celulosa es el polímero orgánico más abundante en el planeta. Debido a sus propiedades, como la biocompatibilidad, la biodegradabilidad, la estabilidad térmica y química, se ha utilizado en muchas aplicaciones. La celulosa se puede obtener de los desechos de biomasa sin exponer los alimentos y los suministros de alimentos, los bosques y la biodiversidad en el mundo. La biomasa está compuesta de fibras de celulosa que están incrustadas en una matriz sólida de lignina y hemicelulosas. Para liberarlos se deben realizar procesos de pretratamiento de biomasa. En los últimos años, la disolución de la biomasa lignocelulósica en líquido iónico ha llamado mucho la atención. Los líquidos iónicos se utilizan como sustitutos ecológicos de los solventes orgánicos volátiles nocivos debido a su carácter no volátil, excelente estabilidad química y térmica. Esta tesis investiga la extracción y valorización de la celulosa de los residuos de biomasa: lodos de papel industriales, lodos de aguas residuales municipales y estufa agrícola de maíz como fuente potencial de carbohidratos, principalmente celulosa, que pueden convertirse en moléculas de valor agregado. Al mismo tiempo, este trabajo sigue el concepto de economía circular para los residuos de biomasa.Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on the planet. Due to its properties, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, thermal and chemical stability it has been used in many applications. Cellulose can be obtained from biomass waste without exposing the food and feed supplies, forests, and biodiversity in the world. Biomass is composed of cellulose fibers which are embedded in a solid matrix of lignin and hemicelluloses. In order to release them pretreatment processes of biomass must be performed. Over the past years the dissolution of lignocellulosic biomass in ionic liquid has drawn a great attention. Ionic liquids are used as green replacement for harmful volatile organic solvents due to their non-volatile character, excellent chemical and thermal stability. This thesis investigates the extraction and valorisation of cellulose from biomass waste: industrial paper sludge, municipal sewage sludge and agricultural corn stover as a potential source of carbohydrates, mainly cellulose, which can be converted into value-added molecules. At the same time, this work follows the concept of circular economy for biomass waste

Do Positive Leadership Strategies Vary Across the Nations? The Study of Polish, French and American Universities

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to identify the differences and similarities in applying positive leadership strategies in American, French and Polish universities.Design/methodology/approach: The research methods applied in the study include literature analysis and the online questionnaire survey conducted within university staff from the United States, France and Poland.Findings: The research has shown that generally speaking, the closest to Cameron’s (2012) positive leadership model is the image presented by the Americans. The French and the Poles should still work on implementing positive leadership strategies in their organisations to achieve extraordinary performance. The investigation has determined some beneficial takeaways for higher education institutions leadership.Research and practical limitations/implications: The paper has some limitations: a limited access to literature, a small size of the study sample, the questionnaire in English where for only one of the countries it is a first language.Originality/value: Embedding the research on positive leadership in various organisational and cultural contexts is one of areas which require more research attention. Among them the studies in the context of academia are worth mentioning. As of 13 May 2018, in the Scopus database, there were found no records including the conjunction of phrases ‘positive leadership’ and (‘university’ or ‘higher education institution’) in the titles of indexed articles. As regards the conjunction of phrases ‘positive leadership’ and ‘culture’, one item (Youssef-Morgan and Luthans, 2013) was found under the aforementioned criteria. With this paper an attempt to present current research on positive leadership strategies in the university context and contrast that with cultural dimensions will be taken.Paper type: research paper

Water as a Source of Indoor Air Contamination with Potentially Pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila in Aquaculture

Human activities influence the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria in indoor air. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the experimental rearing of European grayling and European perch in a recirculating aquaculture system on the contamination of indoor air with potentially pathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila (PPAH) and the resulting health risks to humans. The PPAH counts, their resistance to seven antibiotics, and the multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index were determined in samples of indoor air and water from rearing tanks. The PPAH counts were highest in the laboratory bioaerosol where two fish species were reared. The calculated indoor/outdoor ratio (I/O > 1) demonstrated that tank water was the internal source of PPAH emissions. The unconstrained PCA revealed strong positive relationships (p ≤ 0.05) between the PPAH counts in the indoor air and water samples. Most of the PPAH strains isolated from laboratory air were resistant to tetracycline, cefotaxime, and erythromycin, and 26–82% of the isolates exhibited multiple drug resistance. The values of the MAR index were similar in samples of laboratory air and water (0.23–0.34 and 0.24–0.36, respectively). Agglomerative clustering revealed two clusters of strains isolated from laboratory air and tank water. The results of this study indicate that aquaculture can be a source of indoor air contamination with PPAH

The effects of environmental parameters on the microbial activity in peat-bog lakes.

Microbiological activity is an important parameter for understanding the functioning of different environments. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to estimate the quantity and contribution of metabolically active at the single-cell level bacteria in the microbial community in peat-bog lakes. To determine different aspects of the metabolic activity of bacteria, four fluorescent staining methods (Dehydrogenase/Electron Transport System Activity -CTC+, Nucleoid Containing Cells- NuCC+, Active Bacteria with Intact Ribosome Structures- RIB+ and Active Bacteria With an Intact Membrane-MEM+) were applied. We identified four natural peat-bog lakes in Northern Europe to determine which factors-community (bacterial factors) or environment (hydrochemical and physical factors)-have a significant influence on the quantitative dynamics of metabolically active microorganisms, in terms of seasonal and habitat changes. The results show that change in the amount of abiotic components such as DOC, TN, and TOC can result in stress, which may limit a function but does not lead to losing all other metabolic functions in the community-forming bacteria. In nutrient-poor peat bog lakes, nutrients and organic carbon are factors which regulate the overall activity of the community

Effect of temperature on hydrothermal liquefaction of high lipids and carbohydrates content municipal primary sludge

The study assessed the valorisation of primary sludge through HTL and the influence of temperature on the product distribution. The experiments were conducted at different temperatures, 30 min reaction time, and 100 rpm stirring rate. The maximum yield of biocrude produced was 39.47% at 270 °C. The best yield of oils was 23.96% at 300 °C. The lowest yield of asphaltenes was 12.50% at 240 °C. HHV for biocrude were always between 39 and 41 MJ/kg, close to petroleum. Best energy recovery for biocrude was 82% at 270 °C

Zooplankton functional diversity as a bioindicator of freshwater ecosystem health across land use gradient

Abstract Zooplankton are critical indicators of pressures impacting freshwater ecosystems. We analyzed the response of zooplankton communities across different sub-catchment types—headwaters, natural, urban, urban-agricultural, and agricultural—within the Łyna river–lake system in Northern Poland. Using taxonomic groups and functional traits (body size, feeding strategies), we applied Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS-R) to elucidate the relationships between environmental conditions, land use, and zooplankton metacommunity structure. Two-Way Cluster Analysis (TWCA) identified local subsets with characteristic patterns, while Indicator Species Analysis (ISA) determined area-specific taxa. The natural river zone exhibited significant habitat heterogeneity and feeding niches, whereas urban areas created functional homogenization of zooplankton, dominated by small, broad-diet microphages. Agricultural areas promoted diversity among large filter feeders (Crustacea), active suctors (Rotifera), and amoebae (Protozoa). However, intensified agricultural activities, substantially diminished the zooplankton population, biomass, taxonomic richness, and overall ecosystem functionality. The impact of land cover change is more pronounced at small-scale sub-catchments than at the catchment level as a whole. Therefore, assessing these impacts requires detailed spatial and temporal analysis at the sub-catchment level to identify the most affected areas. This study introduces a new sub-catchment-based perspective on ecosystem health assessment and underscores the zooplankton's role as robust indicators of ecological change

Prokaryotic Community Composition Affected by Seasonal Changes in Physicochemical Properties of Water in Peat Bog Lakes

Based on a three-year study on the prokaryotic community composition in peat bog lakes surrounded by a floating mat of Sphagnum sp. moss in the conditions of Northeast Poland (Central Europe), we verified the relationship between 20 water parameters and main Eubacteria and Archaea phyla for specific sites: the subsurface (pelagic zone), near-bottom (benthic zone), and the Sphagnum mat (ecotone zone). Abundance and composition of the main aquatic bacteria phyla (Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Cytophaga-Flavobacteria) and Archaea were associated with different combinations of physico-chemical parameters of water, and followed temporal variations of temperature, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), aromaticity, and water color. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that water acidity is a less significant predictor of bacterial activity; however, we have found Betaproteobacteria negatively correlated (r = −0.49, p = 0.01), while Actinobacteria positively correlated (r = 0.21, p = 0.05) to pH. This relation was the most significant in the ecotone zone. In the overall bacteria community structure Betaproteobacteria dominated (18.3%) regardless of site or season, except for winter when, at low temperatures and DOC concentrations, Actinobacteria increased to 22.9%. The Archaea fraction was uniform (11%) in seasons and sites and showed no specific preferences to physico-chemical predictors. Although the water parameters from the Sphagnum mat did not differ significantly from pelagic water, its role as a source of allochthonous organic matter is crucial for bacteria activity. The relations between peat bog lake attributes and seasonal changes in bacterial diversity demonstrated a distinct divergent pattern for each prokaryote. Obtaining results will provide support for any future evaluation of the effects of environmental variables on prokaryotic community structures in peat bog lakes

Changes in Stormwater Quality and Heavy Metals Content along the Rainfall–Runoff Process in an Urban Catchment

Stormwater quality in an urban watershed can be influenced by several factors, including land use patterns, atmospheric deposition, and human activities. The objective of this study was to investigate spatial and temporal changes in stormwater quality and heavy metal content during the rainfall–runoff in an urban sub-catchment (30 ha) in the town of Olsztyn (NE Poland). Samples were collected from six locations along the rainfall–runoff pathway, including the following direct rainfall and runoff locations: roof runoff, surface runoff, storm collector, and the river. Parameters such as pH, specific conductivity, fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM), total dissolved solids (TDS), and turbidity were measured in situ, while samples were analyzed for heavy metal content (Cu, Cr, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Pb) in the lab (ICP-OES). The results showed significant changes in water quality along the runoff. The highest concentrations of heavy metals were found in samples from a stormwater collector and surface runoff, particularly in winter and spring, due to the increased deposition of air pollutants and salt washout from roads. This study highlights the importance of monitoring stormwater quality and heavy metals in urban watersheds in terms of impacts on the river ecosystem as a recipient of stormwater. Solutions such as green infrastructure and stormwater management are proposed to mitigate the impacts of urbanization on water quality and protect the aquatic environment