MOESM1 of Rapid in vivo lipid/carbohydrate quantification of single microalgal cell by Raman spectral imaging to reveal salinity-induced starch-to-lipid shift

Additional file 1: Figure S1. The stability test of our Raman setup over 6 hour’s measurement. Figure S2. The raw data without fluorescence background subtraction calculations for the data shown in Fig. 2. Figure S3. The TEM images of microalgal cells under different stress conditions

Assessment of Multiple Sustainability Demands for Wastewater Treatment Alternatives: A Refined Evaluation Scheme and Case Study

Current estimation schemes as decision support tools for the selection of wastewater treatment alternatives focus primarily on the treatment efficiency, effluent quality, and environmental consequences for receiving water bodies. However, these schemes generally do not quantify the potential to convert pollutants in wastewater to recoverable resources. This study proposes a refined evaluation scheme for choices of wastewater treatment processes that quantifies not only adverse environmental effects but also bioenergy and nutrient recovery indices. An original means of data processing was established and clear estimate indicators were consequently obtained to allow a smooth overall estimation. An array of wastewater treatment alternatives that meet three effluent limits were used as case studies to demonstrate how the present scheme works, simultaneously, to identify optimum choices. It is concluded in the overall estimation that the lower sustainability of wastewater treatment contributed by increasingly stringent discharge demands was offset and mitigated by the resource-recovery scenarios involved, and the scenario of recovering nutrients via excess-sludge composting was of more benefit. Thus, before tightening wastewater discharge requirements, one should bear in mind the situation of multiple sustainability by setting a goal to achieve not only the greatest reduction in environmental burden but also the maximum resource-recovery benefits

Decabrominated Diphenyl Ethers (BDE-209) in Chinese and Global Air: Levels, Gas/Particle Partitioning, and Long-Range Transport: Is Long-Range Transport of BDE-209 Really Governed by the Movement of Particles?

In this paper, we report air concentrations of BDE-209 in both gas- and particle-phases across China. The annual mean concentrations of BDE-209 were from below detection limit (BDL) to 77.0 pg·m^–3 in the gas-phase and 1.06–728 pg·m^–3 in the particle-phase. Among the nine PBDEs measured, BDE-209 is the dominant congener in Chinese atmosphere in both gas and particle phases. We predicted the partitioning behavior of BDE-209 in air using our newly developed steady state equation, and the results matched the monitoring data worldwide very well. It was found that the logarithm of the partition quotient of BDE-209 is a constant, and equal to −1.53 under the global ambient temperature range (from −50 to +50 °C). The gaseous fractions of BDE-209 in air depends on the concentration of total suspended particle (TSP). The most important conclusion derived from this study is that, BDE-209, like other semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), cannot be sorbed entirely to atmospheric particles; and there is a significant amount of gaseous BDE-209 in global atmosphere, which is subject to long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Therefore, it is not surprising that BDE-209 can enter the Arctic through LRAT mainly by air transport rather than by particle movement. This is a significant advancement in understanding the global transport process and the pathways entering the Arctic for chemicals with low volatility and high octanol–air partition coefficients, such as BDE-209

MOESM1 of Cell growth and lipid accumulation of a microalgal mutant Scenedesmus sp. Z-4 by combining light/dark cycle with temperature variation

Additional file 1. Figure S1. Effects of light/dark cycles on accumulation of pigment molecules and photosynthetic efficiency under mixotrophic condition. Figure S2. Temperature variation applied in this study. Table S1. The compositions of fatty acids (mass percentage) of microalgal mutant Z-4 at different light–dark cycles under autotrophic condition. Table S2. The compositions of fatty acids (mass percentage) of microalgal mutant Z-4 at different light–dark cycles under mixotrophic condition

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Air across China: Levels, Compositions, and Gas-Particle Partitioning

Air samples were concurrently collected using high volume air samplers for 24 h every week from September 2008 to August 2009 at 15 sites (11 urban, 1 suburban, and 3 background/rural) across China. Twelve polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners (BDE-17, -28, -47, -66, -85, -99, -100, -138, -153, -154, -183, and -209) were measured. Total PBDE concentrations (∑₁₂PBDEs) in air (gas + particle phases) were in the range of 11.0–838 pg m^–3 with a mean of 232 ± 72 (mean ± SE) pg m^–3. The site with the highest concentration was Guangzhou (838 ± 126 pg m^–3), followed by Beijing (781 ± 107 pg m^–3). Significant positive correlations were found between PBDEs levels and urban population (<i>R</i> = 0.69, <i>P</i> < 0.05) and gross industrial output values (<i>R</i> = 0.87, <i>P</i> < 0.001) as well. BDE-209 was the dominating congener with the contribution of 64 ± 23% to ∑₁₂PBDEs, followed by BDE-47(8 ± 8%) and -99(6 ± 5%) at all urban and suburban sites. At background/rural sites, however, BDE-47 was the dominating congener, followed by BDE-99, together accounting for 52 ± 21% of ∑₁₂PBDEs, while BDE-209 was only 11 ± 2%. It was found that PBDEs at the 15 sites showed a primary distribution and fractionation pattern. This study produced more than 700 pairs of air samples in gaseous and particulate phases with a wide temperature range of ∼60 °C, providing a good opportunity to investigate gas–particle partitioning for individual PBDE congeners. The results of gas–particle partitioning analysis for PBDEs using both subcooled-liquid–vapor pressure (<i>P</i>_L)-based and octanol–air partition coefficient (<i>K</i>_OA)-based models indicated that PBDEs in air at all sampling sites had not reached equilibrium because the slope values (<i>m</i>_O) in the <i>K</i>_OA-based equation and the opposite slope values (<i>m</i>_P) in the <i>P</i>_L-based equation at all 15 sampling sites were less than 1. It also found that both <i>m</i>_O and −<i>m</i>_P were significantly and positively correlated with the annual average temperatures of sampling sites and also significantly and negatively correlated with the mole masses of PBDE congeners, indicating a general trend that the higher the temperature at the sampling site and the lower the mole mass of the PBDE congeners are, the closer to the equilibrium the congeners approach and vice versa. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report the correlations of the slope values for both the <i>K</i>_OA-based and <i>P</i>_L-based equations with temperatures at sampling sites and mole masses for individual PBDE congeners

Accelerated Reduction of Chlorinated Nitroaromatic Antibiotic Chloramphenicol by Biocathode

Chlorinated nitroaromatic antibiotic chloramphenicol (CAP) is a priority pollutant in wastewaters. A fed-batch bioelectrochemical system (BES) with biocathode with applied voltage of 0.5 V (served as extracellular electron donor) and glucose as intracellular electron donor was applied to reduce CAP to amine product (AMCl2). The biocathode BES converted 87.1 ± 4.2% of 32 mg/L CAP in 4 h, and the removal efficiency reached 96.0 ± 0.9% within 24 h. Conversely, the removal efficiency of CAP in BES with an abiotic cathode was only 73.0 ± 3.2% after 24 h. When the biocathode was disconnected (no electrochemical reaction but in the presence of microbial activities), the CAP removal rate was dropped to 62.0% of that with biocathode BES. Acetylation of one hydroxyl of CAP was noted exclusive in the biocatalyzed process, while toxic intermediates, hydroxylamino (HOAM), and nitroso (NO), from CAP reduction were observed only in the abiotic cathode BES. Electrochemical hydrodechlorination and dehalogenase were responsible for dechlorination of AMCl2 to AMCl in abiotic and microbial cathode BES, respectively. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) highlighted higher peak currents and lower overpotentials for CAP reduction at the biocathode compared with abiotic cathode. With the biocathode BES, antibacterial activity of CAP was completely removed and nitro group reduction combined with dechlorination reaction enhanced detoxication efficiency of CAP. The CAP cathodic transformation pathway was proposed based on intermediates analysis. Bacterial community analysis indicated that the dominate bacteria on the biocathode were belonging to α, β, and γ-<i>Proteobacteria</i>. The biocathode BES could serve as a potential treatment process for CAP-containing wastewater