A total-recycle expanded-bed bioreactor design which allows direct headspace sampling of volatile chlorinated aliphatic compounds

Summary A two-phase column system was developed, allowing direct headspace sampling of volatile chlorinated aliphatic compounds, including trichloroethylene, cis-and trans-l,2-dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride. Propane, methane and CO 2 were sampled in the same fashion. A comparison of two solid support matrices (crushed glass and anthracite coal) was performed. > 97 _+ 2070 of the trichloroethylene added to control reactors was still present following 12 days of operation. The bioreactor consisted of an expanded-bed column containing 70 g of 60/80-mesh substratum. The liquid phase was recirculated through the expandedbed column into a gas-recharge column fitted with a headspace sampling port which allowed direct sampling and subsequent quantification by gas-chromatography techniques

Soil mobility of surface applied polyaromatic hydrocarbons in response to simulated rainfall

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are emitted from a variety of sources and can accumulate on and within surface soil layers. To investigate the level of potential risk posed by surface contaminated soils, vertical soil column experiments were conducted to assess the mobility, when leached with simulated rainwater, of six selected PAHs (naphthalene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(ghi)perylene) with contrasting hydrophobic characteristics and molecular weights/sizes. The only PAH found in the leachate within the experimental period of 26 days was naphthalene. The lack of migration of the other applied PAHs were consistent with their low mobilities within the soil columns which generally parallelled their log Koc values. Thus only 2.3% of fluoranthene, 1.8% of pyrene, 0.2% of benzo(e)pyrene and 0.4% of benzo(ghi)perylene were translocated below the surface layer. The PAH distributions in the soil columns followed decreasing power relationships with 90% reductions in the starting levels being shown to occur within a maximum average depth of 0.94 cm compared to an average starting depth of 0.5 cm. A simple predictive model identifies the extensive time periods, in excess of 10 years, required to mobilise 50% of the benzo(e)pyrene and benzo(ghi)perylene from the surface soil layer. Although this reduces to between 2 and 7 years for fluoranthene and pyrene, it is concluded that the possibility of surface applied PAHs reaching and contaminating a groundwater aquifer is unlikely

Combined artificial bee colony algorithm and machine learning techniques for prediction of online consumer repurchase intention

A novel paradigm in the service sector i.e. services through the web is a progressive mechanism for rendering offerings over diverse environments. Internet provides huge opportunities for companies to provide personalized online services to their customers. But prompt novel web services introduction may unfavorably affect the quality and user gratification. Subsequently, prediction of the consumer intention is of supreme importance in selecting the web services for an application. The aim of study is to predict online consumer repurchase intention and to achieve this objective a hybrid approach which a combination of machine learning techniques and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm has been used. The study is divided into three phases. Initially, shopping mall and consumer characteristic’s for repurchase intention has been identified through extensive literature review. Secondly, ABC has been used to determine the feature selection of consumers’ characteristics and shopping malls’ attributes (with > 0.1 threshold value) for the prediction model. Finally, validation using K-fold cross has been employed to measure the best classification model robustness. The classification models viz., Decision Trees (C5.0), AdaBoost, Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Neural Network (NN), are utilized for prediction of consumer purchase intention. Performance evaluation of identified models on training-testing partitions (70-30%) of the data set, shows that AdaBoost method outperforms other classification models with sensitivity and accuracy of 0.95 and 97.58% respectively, on testing data set. This study is a revolutionary attempt that considers both, shopping mall and consumer characteristics in examine the consumer purchase intention.N/

Biodegradation of Trichloroethylene in Continuous-Recycle Expanded-Bed Bioreactors

Experimental bioreactors operated as recirculated closed systems were inoculated with bacterial cultures that utilized methane, propane, and tryptone-yeast extract as aerobic carbon and energy sources and degraded trichloroethylene (TCE). Up to 95% removal of TCE was observed after 5 days of incubation. Uninoculated bioreactors inhibited with 0.5% Formalin and 0.2% sodium azide retained greater than 95% of their TCE after 20 days. Each bioreactor consisted of an expanded-bed column through which the liquid phase was recirculated and a gas recharge column which allowed direct headspace sampling. Pulses of TCE (20 mg/liter) were added to bioreactors, and gas chromatography was used to monitor TCE, propane, methane, and carbon dioxide. Pulsed feeding of methane and propane with air resulted in 1 mol of TCE degraded per 55 mol of substrate utilized. Perturbation studies revealed that pH shifts from 7.2 to 7.5 decreased TCE degradation by 85%. The bioreactors recovered to baseline activities within 1 day after the pH returned to neutrality

Cometabolic bioreactor demonstration at the Oak Ridge K-25 Site: Final report

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducted a demonstration of cometabolic technology for bioremediation of groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chlorinated solvents. The technology demonstration was located at a seep from the K-1070-C/D Classified Burial Ground at the Oak Ridge K-25 Site. The technology demonstration was designed to evaluate the performance of two different types of cometabolic processes. In both cases, the TCE is cometabolized in the sense that utilization of a different primary substrate is necessary to obtain the simultaneous cometabolism of TCE. Trichloroethylene alone is unable to support growth and maintenance of the microorganisms. Methanotrophic (methane-utilizing) technology was demonstrated first; aromatic-utilizing microorganisms were demonstrated later. The demonstration was based on scaleup of laboratory and bench-scale prototype equipment that was used to establish the technical feasibility of the processes.This report documents the operation of the methanotrophic bioreactor system to treat the seep water at the demonstration site. The initial objectives were to demonstrate stable operation of the bioreactors and associated equipment, including the pretreatment and effluent polishing steps; and evaluate the biodegradation of TCE and other organics in the seep water for the three operating modes--air oxidation pretreatment, steam-stripping pretreatment, and no pretreatment

A study of the 2013 Western European issue of aflatoxin contamination of maize from the Balkan area

In March 2013 a large shipment of maize, intended for feed was subject of an alert in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Commission (EC) because the aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) level in the load exceeded the EC regulated maximum level of 20 µg/kg. Since the shipment had passed import controls and was already distributed (mainly to German farms), a massive recall followed. The aim of the current study was to investigate questions, raised by authorities and industry, related to the effectivity of EU sampling procedures, the influence of sample homogenisation procedures and sample storage conditions on the test results, and fungal identification as unexpected mycotoxins were identified during this study. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority seized a shipload of maize in July 2013, suspected to be contaminated with AFB1. The shipload was sampled according to the 2009 and 2013 EC Sampling Regulations to compare the outcomes of both sampling protocols. Mycotoxin analysis of the incremental samples showed high mean levels of AFB1, aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), and ochratoxin A (OTA). Also an extreme inhomogeneous distribution of aflatoxins and OTA was proven. Analysis of samples homogenised according to the slurry method showed improved performance as compared to samples homogenised through dry homogenisation. Sampling and sample homogenisation according to the Regulation from 2013 showed a closer estimate of the ‘true’ AFB1 content as compared to sampling according to the Regulation from 2009. No influence of laboratory storage conditions on AFB1 concentration could be determined. Fungal identification revealed Aspergillus flavus as the main source of AFB1 in this shipment. Infrequent occurrence of Aspergillus parasiticus might have been the source of AFG1. The occurrence of sometimes large amounts of OTA could not be explained, however it was suggested that Aspergillus welwitschiae might have played a role

Occurrence of Verocytotoxin-Producing Escherichia coli O157 on Dutch Dairy Farms

During the period from September 1996 through November 1996, 10 Dutch dairy farms were visited to collect fecal samples from all cattle present. The samples were examined for the presence of verocytotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) of serogroup O157 (O157 VTEC) by immunomagnetic separation following selective enrichment. Cattle on 7 of the 10 dairy farms tested positive for O157 VTEC, with the proportion of cattle infected varying from 0.8 to 22.4%. On the seven farms positive for O157 VTEC, the excretion rate was highest in calves ages 4 to 12 months (21.2%). In a follow-up study, two O157 VTEC-positive farms and two O157 VTEC-negative farms identified in the prevalence study were revisited five times at intervals of approximately 3 months. Cattle on each farm tested positive at least once. The proportion of cattle infected varied from 0 to 61.0%. Excretion rates peaked in summer and were lowest in winter. Again, the highest prevalence was observed in calves ages 4 to 12 months (11.8%). O157 VTEC strains were also isolated from fecal samples from horses, ponies, and sheep and from milk filters and stable flies. O157 VTEC isolates were characterized by VT production and type, the presence of the E. coli attaching-and-effacing gene, phage type, and pulsed-field gel electrophoretic genotype. No overlapping strain types were identified among isolates from different farms except one. The predominance of a single type at each sampling suggests that horizontal transmission is an important factor in dissemination of O157 VTEC within a farm. The presence of more than one strain type, both simultaneously and over time, suggests that there was more than one source of O157 VTEC on the farms. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the O157 VTEC status of a farm cannot be ascertained from a single visit testing a small number of cattle