Removal of total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen and organic carbon from non-sterile municipal wastewater with Trametes versicolor and Aspergillus luchuensis

Discharge of organic load from treated wastewater may cause environmental eutrophication. Recently, fungi have gained much attention due to their removal of pharmaceutical substances by enzymatic degradation and adsorption. However, the fungal effect in removing nutrients is less investigated. Therefore, two fungal species, the white-rot fungus T. versicolor as a laboratory strain and the mold A. luchuensis as an environmental isolate from the municipal wastewater treatment plant, were studied to determine the fungal potential for phosphorus, nitrogen, and the total organic carbon removal from municipal wastewater, carrying out a batch scale experiment to a fluidized bed pelleted bioreactor. During the batch scale experiment, the total removal (99.9 %) of phosphorus by T. versicolor was attained after a 6 hours-long incubation period while the maximal removal efficiency (99.9 %) for phosphorus from A. luchuensis was gained after an incubation period of 24 hours.  Furthermore, both fungi showed that the pH adjustment to 5.5 kept the concentration of nitrogen constant and stabilized the total organic carbon reduction process for the entire incubation period. The results from the fluidized bed bioreactor demonstrated opposite tendencies on a nutrient removal comparing to a batch experiment where no significant effect on phosphorus, nitrogen, and total organics carbon reduction was observed. The obtained results from this study of batch and fluidized bed bioreactor experiments are a promising starting point for a successful fungal treatment optimization and application to wastewater treatment.QC 20210107</p

Overview of the (Smart) Stormwater Management around the Baltic Sea

In this review paper, we investigate the management of the quality of stormwater in the Baltic Sea region. Current stormwater management practices, standards, and legislation do not accurately depict stormwater quality, resulting in an underestimation of its environmental impact. The digitalization and harmonization of stormwater management through the implementation of e-monitoring (online or continuous monitoring) allow for the collection of data. This data can be used to improve stormwater quality and quantity management, thereby reducing the environmental harm induced by anthropogenic activities. Based on the literature review, supporting tables and matrices are proposed to assist decision-makers and other interested parties in developing and implementing “smart” stormwater management solutions. In this article, we demonstrate that such systems can enhance stormwater management and system performance by leveraging data-driven operation and maintenance. Another advantage of the approach is that it contributes to a healthier urban environment and ecosystem well-being

Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles by the oil-in-water microemulsion reaction method and their incorporation in nanocomposites

Trabajo presentado en la 26th Conference of the European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS 2012), celebrada en Malmö (Suecia) entre el 2 y el 7 de septiembre de 2012

<i>In silico</i> modeling and experimental evidence of coagulant protein interaction with precursors for nanoparticle functionalization

<div><p>The design of novel protein–nanoparticle hybrid systems has applications in many fields of science ranging from biomedicine, catalysis, water treatment, etc. The main barrier in devising such tool is lack of adequate information or poor understanding of protein–ligand chemistry. Here, we establish a new strategy based on computational modeling for protein and precursor linkers that can decorate the nanoparticles. <i>Moringa oleifera</i> (MO_2.1) seed protein that has coagulation and antimicrobial properties was used. Superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SPION) with precursor ligands were used for the protein–ligand interaction studies. The molecular docking studies reveal that there are two binding sites, one is located at the core binding site; tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) or 3-aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APTES) binds to this site while the other one is located at the side chain residues where trisodium citrate (TSC) or Si₆₀ binds to this site. The protein–ligand distance profile analysis explains the differences in functional activity of the decorated SPION. Experimentally, TSC-coated nanoparticles showed higher coagulation activity as compared to TEOS- and APTES-coated SPION. To our knowledge, this is the first report on <i>in vitro</i> experimental data, which endorses the computational modeling studies as a powerful tool to design novel precursors for functionalization of nanomaterials; and develop interface hybrid systems for various applications.</p> </div

Comparison and Functionalization Study of Microemulsion-Prepared Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MION) for protein binding and separation were obtained from water-in-oil (w/o) and oil-in-water (o/w) microemulsions. Characterization of the prepared nanoparticles have been performed by TEM, XRD, SQUID magnetometry, and BET. Microemulsion-prepared magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (ME-MION) with sizes ranging from 2 to 10 nm were obtained. Study on the magnetic properties at 300 K shows a large increase of the magnetization ∼35 emu/g for w/o-ME-MION with superparamagnetic behavior and nanoscale dimensions in comparison with o/w-ME-MION (10 emu/g) due to larger particle size and anisotropic property. <i>Moringa oleifera</i> coagulation protein (MOCP) bound w/o- and o/w-ME-MION showed an enhanced performance in terms of coagulation activity. A significant interaction between the magnetic nanoparticles and the protein can be described by changes in fluorescence emission spectra. Adsorbed protein from MOCP is still retaining its functionality even after binding to the nanoparticles, thus implying the extension of this technique for various applications

Comparison and Functionalization Study of Microemulsion-Prepared Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MION) for protein binding and separation were obtained from water-in-oil (w/o) and oil-in-water (o/w) microemulsions. Characterization of the prepared nanoparticles have been performed by TEM, XRD, SQUID magnetometry, and BET. Microemulsion-prepared magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (ME-MION) with sizes ranging from 2 to 10 nm were obtained. Study on the magnetic properties at 300 K shows a large increase of the magnetization ~35 emu/g for w/o-ME-MION with superparamagnetic behavior and nanoscale dimensions in comparison with o/w-ME-MION (10 emu/g) due to larger particle size and anisotropic property. Moringa oleifera coagulation protein (MOCP) bound w/o- and o/w-ME-MION showed an enhanced performance in terms of coagulation activity. A significant interaction between the magnetic nanoparticles and the protein can be described by changes in fluorescence emission spectra. Adsorbed protein from MOCP is still retaining its functionality even after binding to the nanoparticles, thus implying the extension of this technique for various applications.We are grateful for the financial support of the Swedish Research Council, Formas, as well as the Cost Action D43, Colloid and Interface Chemistry for Nanotechnology. M.S.-D. acknowledges NaNoTeCh, the National Nanotechnology Laboratory of Mexico, and Cesar Leyva (CIMAV, S.C.) for HRTEM/STEM measurements and assistance, and A.T.T. (CIMAV, S.C.) for ATR-IR measurements and assistance. Financial support by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN Spain, grant number CTQ2008-01979) and Generalitat de Catalunya (Agaur, grant number 2009SGR-961) is also aknowledged. C.C. acknowledges financial support from Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion; MAT 2008-02542 and GR35/10-A-950247.Peer reviewe