The sustainability of desalination as a remedy to the water crisis in the agriculture sector: An analysis from the climate-water-energy-food nexus perspective

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordData Availability: No data was used for the research described in the article.Over the years, desalination has become integral to water resources management, primarily in coastal semi-arid to arid regions. While desalinated seawater has mainly been supplied to municipal and high-revenue industries, the agriculture sector faces increasing irrigation demands, making it a potential user. This review assesses the sustainability of using desalinated seawater for irrigation, shedding light on its limitations and potential. Using desalinated water for irrigation presents challenges, including its high energy consumption, potential contribution to climate change, and agronomy-related concerns. However, evidence suggests that these challenges can be addressed effectively through tailor-fitted strategies. That said, conventional binary decision-making paradigms that label practices as good or bad and focus on a singular, isolated aspect are insufficient for evaluating the sustainability of desalination due to the complex and interconnected nature of the issues involved. To overcome this, the climate-water-energy-food (CWEF) nexus concept is proposed as a comprehensive framework for sustainability assessment. Adopting the CWEF nexus approach allows for a better understanding of the potential challenges associated with using desalinated water for irrigation, encompassing social, economic and environmental concerns. To ensure effective management of these challenges, it is crucial to tailor desalination projects to specific regional conditions and employ either prophylactic or corrective strategies. By embracing the CWEF nexus approach, informed decisions can be made regarding the future utilization of desalinated water for irrigation, contributing to broader sustainability goals

Toward Sustainable Tackling of Biofouling Implications and Improved Performance of TFC FO Membranes Modified by Ag-MOF Nanorods

In this work, nanorods with high antibacterial properties were synthesized with silver acetate as the metal source and 2-aminoterephthalic acid as the organic linker and were then embedded into thin-film composite (TFC) membranes to amend their performance as well as to alleviate biofouling. Silver metal-organic framework (Ag-MOF) nanorods with a length smaller than 40 nm were incorporated within the polyamide thin selective layer of the membranes during interfacial polymerization. The interaction of the synthesized nanorods with the polyamide was favored because of the presence of amine-containing functional groups on the nanorod's surface. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy characterizations proved the presence of Ag-MOF nanorods in the selective layer of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. TFN membranes demonstrated improved water permeance, salt selectivity, and superior antibacterial properties. Specifically, the increased hydrophilicity and antibacterial potential of the TFN membranes led to a synergetic effect toward biofouling mitigation. The number of live bacteria attached to the surface of the neat TFC membrane decreased by more than 92% when a low amount of Ag-MOF nanorods (0.2 wt %) was applied. Following contact of the TFN membrane surface with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, full inactivation, and degradation of bacteria cells were observed with microscopy, colony-forming unit tests, and disc inhibition zone analyses. This result translated to a negligible amount of the biofilm formed on the active layer. Indeed, the incorporation of Ag-MOF nanorods decreased the metal-ion release rate and therefore provided prolonged antibacterial performance

Discourse over the sustainability of irrigation with desalinated water in light of the water-energy-food nexus

This is the final version. Available from EWRA via the link in this recordDesalinated seawater has gained increasing popularity as an option for water-stressed regions worldwide to meet a general increase in water demand across most sectors. Considering current water and food crises that are exacerbating in many regions, desalination has gained traction as a suitable solution to alleviate these problems as a potentially limitless alternative water source. The agricultural industry is the largest global water consumer and the sector that is most likely to benefit from this technology to meet the increasing demand for irrigation. Despite the technology’s considerable potential, there are numerous issues related the technology’s sustainability that may prevent it from becoming a widely used solution for irrigation purposes. However, being affected by numerous interconnected factors, water resources problems are nuanced and multi-disciplinary. To account for these intricacies in the evaluation of the sustainability of this option for irrigation, the concept of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Security Nexus can be used. This paper provides a preliminary evaluation of the sustainability of the use of desalinated water for irrigation considering the WEF Security Nexus

A review of limitations and potentials of desalination as a sustainable source of water

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this recordData availability: All used data have been presented in the paper.For centuries, desalination, in one way or another, has helped alleviate water scarcity. Over time, desalination has gone through an evolutionary process influenced largely by available contemporary technology. This improvement, for the most part, was reflected in the energy efficiency and, in turn, in terms of the cost-effectiveness of this practice. Thanks to such advancements, by the 1960s, the desalination industry experienced notable exponential growth, becoming a formidable option to supplement conventional water resources with a reliable non-conventional resource. That said, often, there are pressing associated issues, most notably environmental, socioeconomic, health, and relatively recently, agronomic concerns. Such reservations raise the question of whether desalination is indeed a sustainable solution to current water supply problems. This is exceptionally important to understand in light of the looming water and food crises. This paper, thus, tends to review these potential issues from the sustainability perspective. It is concluded that the aforementioned issues are indeed major concerns, but they can be mitigated by actions that consider the local context. These may be either prophylactic, proactive measures that require careful planning to tailor the situation to best fit a given region or reactive measures such as incorporating pre- (e.g., removing particles, debris, microorganisms, suspended solids, and silt from the intake water prior to the desalination process) and post-treatments (e.g., reintroducing calcium and magnesium ions to water to enhance its quality for irrigation purposes) to target specific shortcomings of desalination

Macromolecular Fingerprinting of Sulfolobus Species in Biofilm: A Transcriptomic and Proteomic Approach Combined with Spectroscopic Analysis

Microorganisms in nature often live in surfaceassociated sessile communities, encased in a self-produced matrix, referred to as biofilms. Biofilms have been well studied in bacteria but in a limited way for archaea. We have recently characterized biofilm formation in three closely related hyperthermophilic crenarchaeotes: Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, S. solfataricus, and S. tokodaii. These strains form different communities ranging from simple carpet structures in S. solfataricus to high density tower-like structures in S. acidocaldarius under static condition. Here, we combine spectroscopic, proteomic, and transcriptomic analyses to describe physiological and regulatory features associated with biofilms. Spectroscopic analysis reveals that in comparison to planktonic life-style, biofilm life-style has distinctive influence on the physiology of each Sulfolobus spp. Proteomic and transcriptomic data show that biofilm-forming life-style is strain specific (eg ca. 15% of the S. acidocaldarius genes were differently expressed, S. solfataricus and S. tokodaii had ∼3.4 and ∼1%, respectively). The -omic data showed that regulated ORFs were widely distributed in basic cellular functions, including surface modifications. Several regulated genes are common to biofilm-forming cells in all three species. One of the most striking common response genes include putative Lrs14-like transcriptional regulators, indicating their possible roles as a key regulatory factor in biofilm development

Comparative study of the extracellular proteome of Sulfolobus species reveals limited secretion

Although a large number of potentially secreted proteins can be predicted on the basis of genomic distribution of signal sequence-bearing proteins, protein secretion in Archaea has barely been studied. A proteomic inventory and comparison of the growth medium proteins in three hyperthermoacidophiles, i.e., Sulfolobus solfataricus, S. acidocaldarius and S. tokodaii, indicates that only few proteins are freely secreted into the growth medium and that the majority originates from cell envelope bound forms. In S. acidocaldarius both cell-associated and secreted α-amylase activities are detected. Inactivation of the amyA gene resulted in a complete loss of activity, suggesting that the same protein is responsible for the a-amylase activity at both locations. It is concluded that protein secretion in Sulfolobus is a limited process, and it is suggested that the S-layer may act as a barrier for the free diffusion of folded proteins into the medium

Cell Surface Structures of Archaea

Prokaryotes possess various kinds of cell surface organelles serving versatile biological roles depending on the environmental niche of the organism. The formation of these structures involves fascinating machineries, as not only do the protein components need to travel across the cytoplasmic membrane like all secreted proteins, but they also need to do so in a precisely coordinated manner for proper assembly. Most commonly found on the surface of bacteria are flagella used for swimming (47); the type III secretion injectisome (needle structure) (21), which is used to deliver effector molecules from pathogenic organisms into host cells; and a wide variety of thinner organelles that fall under the broad designation of pili (13, 33, 58, 64, 69, 78). Different classes of these structures (type I pili, type IV pili, sex pili, etc.) which differ significantly in their structure, assembly, and function have been identified. Their many roles include adhesion, twitching (or surface) motility, and delivery of DNA and toxins, as well as functioning as electrically conductive “nanowires.” Other, less commonly studied appendages have also been reported, such as spinae (9)

Cell Surface Structures of Archaea

Prokaryotes possess various kinds of cell surface organelles serving versatile biological roles depending on the environmental niche of the organism. The formation of these structures involves fascinating machineries, as not only do the protein components need to travel across the cytoplasmic membrane like all secreted proteins, but they also need to do so in a precisely coordinated manner for proper assembly. Most commonly found on the surface of bacteria are flagella used for swimming (47); the type III secretion injectisome (needle structure) (21), which is used to deliver effector molecules from pathogenic organisms into host cells; and a wide variety of thinner organelles that fall under the broad designation of pili (13, 33, 58, 64, 69, 78). Different classes of these structures (type I pili, type IV pili, sex pili, etc.) which differ significantly in their structure, assembly, and function have been identified. Their many roles include adhesion, twitching (or surface) motility, and delivery of DNA and toxins, as well as functioning as electrically conductive “nanowires.” Other, less commonly studied appendages have also been reported, such as spinae (9)

Appendage-mediated surface adherence in Sulfolobus solfataricus

Attachment of microorganisms to surfaces is a prerequisite for colonization and biofilm formation. The hyperthermophilic crenarchaeote Sulfolobus solfataricus was able to attach to a variety of surfaces such as glass, mica, pyrite and carboncoated gold grids. Deletion mutant analysis showed that for initial attachment the presence of flagella and pili is essential. Attached cells produced extracellular polysaccharides containing mannose, galactose and N-acetylglucosamine. Genes possibly involved in the production of the extracellular polysaccharides were identified