Microbial fuel cell technology for measurement of microbial respiration of lactate as an example of bioremediation amendment

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) based sensing was explored to provide for the development of an insitu bioremediation monitoring approach for substrate concentrations and microbial respiration rates. MFC systems were examined in column systems where Shewanella oneidensis MR1 used an external electron acceptor (an electrode) to metabolize lactate (a bioremediation additive) to acetate. Column systems were operated with varying influent lactate concentrations (0-41mM) and monitored for current generation (0.01-0.39mA). Biological current generation paralleled bulk phase lactate concentration both in the influent and in the bulk phase at the anode; current values were correlated to lactate concentration at the anode (R 2=0.9), The electrical signal provided real-time information for electron donor availability and biological activity. These results have practical implications for efficient and inexpensive real-time monitoring of insitu bioremediation processes where information on substrate concentrations is often difficult to obtain and where information on the rate and nature of metabolic processes is neede

Soil development on basic and ultrabasic rocks in cold environments of Russia traced by mineralogical composition and pore space characteristics

Recent soils from basic (amphibolite and meta-gabbro amphibolite) and ultrabasic (serpentinous dunite) rocks formed in cold and humid climates of Northern Eurasia (Russia) were studied to detail the characterization of soils and rocks with special attention to the interdependence of porosity system and rock mineralogy. The study plots were located in taiga and tundra zones of East Fennoscandia and the Polar UralMountainsyesBelgorod State National Research Universit

Fast assembly of bio-inspired nanocomposite films

This paper presents a spin-coating layer-by-layer assembly process to prepare multilayered polyelectrolyte-clay nanocomposites. This method allows for the fast production of films with controlled layered structure. The preparation of a 100-bilayer film with a thickness of about 330 nm needs less than 1 h, which is 20 times faster than conventional dip-coating processes maintaining the same hardness and modulus values. For validation of this technique, nanocomposite films with thicknesses up to 0.5 μm have been created with the common dip self-assembly and with the spin coating layer-by-layer assembly technique from a poly(diallyldimethylammonium)chloride (PDDA) solution and a suspension of a smectite clay mineral (Laponite). Geometrical characteristics (thickness, roughness, and texture) as well as mechanical characteristics (hardness and modulus) of the clay-polyelectrolyte films have been studied. The spin-coated nanocomposite films exhibit clearly improved mechanical properties (hardness 0.4 GPa, elastic modulus 7 GPa) compared to the "pure” polymer film, namely a sixfold increase in hardness and a 17-fold increase in Young's modulu

Heterogeneous ice nucleation on dust particles sourced from nine deserts worldwide - Part 1: Immersion freezing

Desert dust is one of the most abundant ice nucleating particle types in the atmosphere. Traditionally, clay minerals were assumed to determine the ice nucleation ability of desert dust and constituted the focus of ice nucleation studies over several decades. Recently some feldspar species were identified to be ice active at much higher temperatures than clay minerals, redirecting studies to investigate the contribution of feldspar to ice nucleation on desert dust. However, so far no study has shown the atmospheric relevance of this mineral phase. For this study four dust samples were collected after airborne transport in the troposphere from the Sahara to different locations (Crete, the Peloponnese, Canary Islands, and the Sinai Peninsula). Additionally, 11 dust samples were collected from the surface from nine of the biggest deserts worldwide. The samples were used to study the ice nucleation behavior specific to different desert dusts. Furthermore, we investigated how representative surface-collected dust is for the atmosphere by comparing to the ice nucleation activity of the airborne samples. We used the IMCA-ZINC setup to form droplets on single aerosol particles which were subsequently exposed to temperatures between 233 and 250 K. Dust particles were collected in parallel on filters for offline cold-stage ice nucleation experiments at 253–263 K. To help the interpretation of the ice nucleation experiments the mineralogical composition of the dusts was investigated. We find that a higher ice nucleation activity in a given sample at 253 K can be attributed to the K-feldspar content present in this sample, whereas at temperatures between 238 and 245 K it is attributed to the sum of feldspar and quartz content present. A high clay content, in contrast, is associated with lower ice nucleation activity. This confirms the importance of feldspar above 250 K and the role of quartz and feldspars determining the ice nucleation activities at lower temperatures as found by earlier studies for monomineral dusts. The airborne samples show on average a lower ice nucleation activity than the surface-collected ones. Furthermore, we find that under certain conditions milling can lead to a decrease in the ice nucleation ability of polymineral samples due to the different hardness and cleavage of individual mineral phases causing an increase of minerals with low ice nucleation ability in the atmospherically relevant size fraction. Comparison of our data set to an existing desert dust parameterization confirms its applicability for climate models. Our results suggest that for an improved prediction of the ice nucleation ability of desert dust in the atmosphere, the modeling of emission and atmospheric transport of the feldspar and quartz mineral phases would be key, while other minerals are only of minor importance

Heterogeneous ice nucleation on dust particles sourced from nine deserts worldwide – Part 2: Deposition nucleation and condensation freezing

Mineral dust particles from deserts are amongst the most common ice nucleating particles in the atmosphere. The mineralogy of desert dust differs depending on the source region and can further fractionate during the dust emission processes. Mineralogy to a large extent explains the ice nucleation behavior of desert aerosol, but not entirely. Apart from pure mineral dust, desert aerosol particles often exhibit a coating or are mixed with small amounts of biological material. Aging on the ground or during atmospheric transport can deactivate nucleation sites, thus strong ice nucleating minerals may not exhibit their full potential. In the partner paper of this work, it was shown that mineralogy determines most but not all of the ice nucleation behavior in the immersion mode found for desert dust. In this study, the influence of semi-volatile organic compounds and the presence of crystal water on the ice nucleation behavior of desert aerosol is investigated. This work focuses on the deposition and condensation ice nucleation modes at temperatures between 238 and 242&thinsp;K of 18 dust samples sourced from nine deserts worldwide. Chemical imaging of the particles' surface is used to determine the cause of the observed differences in ice nucleation. It is found that, while the ice nucleation ability of the majority of the dust samples is dominated by their quartz and feldspar content, in one carbonaceous sample it is mostly caused by organic matter, potentially cellulose and/or proteins. In contrast, the ice nucleation ability of an airborne Saharan sample is found to be diminished, likely by semi-volatile species covering ice nucleation active sites of the minerals. This study shows that in addition to mineralogy, other factors such as organics and crystal water content can alter the ice nucleation behavior of desert aerosol during atmospheric transport in various ways.</p

Heterogeneous ice nucleation on dust particles sourced from nine deserts worldwide - Part 1: Immersion freezing

Desert dust is one of the most abundant ice nucleating particle types in the atmosphere. Traditionally, clay minerals were assumed to determine the ice nucleation ability of desert dust and constituted the focus of ice nucleation studies over several decades. Recently some feldspar species were identified to be ice active at much higher temperatures than clay minerals, redirecting studies to investigate the contribution of feldspar to ice nucleation on desert dust. However, so far no study has shown the atmospheric relevance of this mineral phase. For this study four dust samples were collected after airborne transport in the troposphere from the Sahara to different locations (Crete, the Peloponnese, Canary Islands, and the Sinai Peninsula). Additionally, 11 dust samples were collected from the surface from nine of the biggest deserts worldwide. The samples were used to study the ice nucleation behavior specific to different desert dusts. Furthermore, we investigated how representative surface-collected dust is for the atmosphere by comparing to the ice nucleation activity of the airborne samples. We used the IMCA-ZINC setup to form droplets on single aerosol particles which were subsequently exposed to temperatures between 233 and 250 K. Dust particles were collected in parallel on filters for offline cold-stage ice nucleation experiments at 253–263 K. To help the interpretation of the ice nucleation experiments the mineralogical composition of the dusts was investigated. We find that a higher ice nucleation activity in a given sample at 253K can be attributed to the K-feldspar content present in this sample, whereas at temperatures between 238 and 245K it is attributed to the sum of feldspar and quartz content present. A high clay content, in contrast, is associated with lower ice nucleation activity. This confirms the importance of feldspar above 250K and the role of quartz and feldspars determining the ice nucleation activities at lower temperatures as found by earlier studies for monomineral dusts. The airborne samples show on average a lower ice nucleation activity than the surface-collected ones. Furthermore, we find that under certain conditions milling can lead to a decrease in the ice nucleation ability of polymineral samples due to the different hardness and cleavage of individual mineral phases causing an increase of minerals with low ice nucleation ability in the atmospherically relevant size fraction. Comparison of our data set to an existing desert dust parameterization confirms its applicability for climate models. Our results suggest that for an improved prediction of the ice nucleation ability of desert dust in the atmosphere, the modeling of emission and atmospheric transport of the feldspar and quartz mineral phases would be key, while other minerals are only of minor importance

Sustainable environmental geotechnics practices for a green economy

The revitalisation of the global economy after the Covid-19 era presents environmental geotechnics with the opportunity to reinforce the need for a change in paradigm towards a green, circular economy and to promote aggressively the use and development of sustainable technologies and management practices. This paper aims to assist in this effort by concentrating on several thematic areas where sustainability solutions and future improvements are sought. These include the re-entry of construction and demolition of wastes, excavated materials, industrial wastes and marine sediments into the production cycle and the reuse of existing foundations. Despite the recent trend in advanced countries towards recycling and waste-to-energy thermal treatment, landfills still constitute the most common municipal solid waste management practice, especially in low-and-middle-income countries, and technological solutions to improve their environmental footprint are hereby presented. At the same time, remediation solutions are required to address the multitude of contaminated sites worldwide. Advanced developments that incorporate environmental, economic and social dimensions are expounded by the authors, together with sustainable ground improvement solutions for infrastructure projects conducted in soft and weak soils. The topic of thermo-active geostructures concludes this paper, where, apart from their infrastructure utility, these structures have the potential to contribute to the renewable energy source.Published versionThe second author would like to acknowledge the support of the Office of the Associate Provost for Research and Academic Development at Abu Dhabi University, UAE through grant19300540

Landscape evolution in Val Mulix, eastern Swiss Alps – soil chemical and mineralogical analyses as age proxies

Towards the end of the last glacial cycle, repeated re-advances of valley glaciers in the European Alps combined with periglacial processes led to the formation of a variety of climate-related landforms. Independent age measurements of moraines and rock glacier lobes using both in-situ produced and meteoric 10Be allows for the use of soil formation as an age proxy. In this complementary study we present chemical and mineralogical data from five Podzols from Val Mulix in Eastern Switzerland. Two of them developed on granitic Lateglacial moraines (14.9 ka and 10.7 ka, respectively) and three were sampled on lobes of a morphostratigraphically connected relict rock glacier, covering an age range of approx. 10.7 ka to 8.6 ka. Besides the evaluation of the suitability of selected pedosignatures for a relative age separation, we hypothesised that these pedosignatures should give further information about the evolution of the specific sites. Although the soils had a high skeleton content and the oldest soil started its development in a slightly colder climatic phase, typical weathering trends could still be detected. Whereas weathering indices such as the (K + Ca)/Ti ratio or the B-index reflect time trends reasonably well, the mineralogical composition of the fine earth and clay fraction yielded a slightly more inconsistent picture; to a lesser extent, some inconsistencies were also exhibited when using the weathering mass balance approach. This is especially true for the relict rock glacier and it supports the suggested complex development history of these soils as well as the presence of pre-weathered material. Techniques that include several surface soil horizons and the soil skeleton such as the (K + Ca)/Ti ratio, the B-index and the mass balance approach gave more robust results (in terms of the expected chronology) than the ones that only referred to single horizons (clay mineralogy). Errors or variations due to potential reallocation processes within the soil horizons but without a prominent change of the overall soil characteristics are minimised using such an approach. Weathering indexes and the clay mineral assemblage provided a differentiation of soils even within a relatively narrow time range and gave insight into processes that have occurred at the specific sites. The combined relative-numerical dating approach used here not only enables an extended interpretation and mutual control, but ultimately leads to a better understanding of landscape reconstruction and evolution

The influence of weathering processes on labile and stable organic matter in Mediterranean volcanic soils

The relationship and mechanisms among weathering processes, cation fluxes, clay mineralogy, organic matter composition and stability were studied in soils developing on basaltic material in southern Italy (Sicily). The soils were transitions between Phaeozems and Vertisols. Intense losses of the elements Na, Ca and Mg were measured indicating that weathering has occurred over a long period of time. The main weathering processes followed the sequence: amphibole, mica, volcanic glass or if ash was the primary source → smectite → interstratified smectite–kaolinite → kaolinite. Kaolinite formation was strongly related to high Al, Mg and Na losses. The good correlation between oxyhydroxides and kaolinite in the soils suggests that (macro)aggregates have formed due to physical or electrostatic interactions between the 1:1 clay minerals and oxides. The stability of organic matter was investigated with a H2O2-treatment that assumes that chemical oxidation mimics the natural oxidative processes. The ratio of C after the H2O2 treatment to the total organic C ranged from 1–28%. No correlation between clay content and organic matter (labile or stable fraction) was found. The refractory organic fraction was enriched in aliphatic compounds and did not greatly interact with the kaolinite, smectite or poorly crystalline Fe or Al phases. A part of this fraction (most probably proteins) was bound to crystalline Fe-oxides. In contrast, the oxidisable fraction showed a strong relationship with poorly crystalline oxyhydroxides and kaolinite. Surprisingly, smectite did not contribute to the stabilisation of any of the organic C fractions. The stabilisation of organic matter in the soils has, therefore, two main mechanisms: 1) the protection of labile (oxidisable with H2O2) organic matter, including also aromatic-rich compounds such as charcoal, by the formation of aggregates with oxyhydroxides and kaolinite and 2) the formation of a refractory fraction enriched in aliphatic compounds