Miljojka D. Mijailović, Vanja M. Tadić, Ivan B. Krstić, Jelena M. Avramović, Ana V. Veličković, Andjela T. Zahitović, Vlada B. Veljković, Miljana S. Krstić
Background
This study investigated the hydrodistillation process for extracting essential oil from sweet flag (Acorus calamus) rhizomes. The primary objectives were to evaluate the influence of the water-to-rhizome ratio on both the yield and chemical composition of the essential oil and to model the extraction kinetics.
Results
The water-to-rhizome ratio was found to significantly influence the yield of essential oil, with the highest yield (1.36 ±0.01%) obtained at a ratio of 11:1. However, variations in this ratio did not result in significant changes in the chemical composition of the oil. A first-order kinetic model was identified as the most suitable for describing the hydrodistillation process, offering simplicity and strong agreement with experimental data.
With the rapid development of society and demand for meat and dairy products, China generates a large amount of livestock manure each year. However, the low utilization rate of cattle manure has led to environmental problems such as soil imbalance, water eutrophication and ammonia emissions. Weathered coal, owing to its low calorific value, low ignition point and poor caking property, is often abandoned. Both weathered coal and cattle manure present dual environmental challenges of pollution and resource wastage. Their combined utilization through solid-state anaerobic fermentation provides a promising strategy for sustainable clean energy production and waste valorization. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms driving such synergistic enhancement remain poorly understood.
RESULT
Co-fermentation of weathered coal and cow manure resulted in a 4.5-fold increase in biomethane production compared to cow manure mono-fermentation. Gas chromatography, humus/ammonia quantification and metagenomic analyses revealed that Bacillota, Bacteroidales, Methanocalculus and Methanosarcina were the dominant microbial consortia supporting enhanced methane yield. Metagenomic functional annotation indicated a significant upregulation of cofactor and vitamin biosynthesis, methane metabolism, and nitrogen cycling pathways. Additionally, enhanced phenylalanine metabolism – characterized by increased phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity – was positively correlated with elevated humus content during co-fermentation.
Jun Chen, Dawei Teng, Xue Li, Dong Lv, Mingxia Du, Xu Gao, Zhenni Liu, Jun Zhang, Kaiqi Yao, Chunnian Da, Mengqiu Xu
BACKGROUND
Antibiotics are widely used in antiviral treatment, but their persistence poses a significant threat to the ecological environment. Advanced oxidation processes based on peroxymonosulfate (PMS) have shown great promise in the decomposition of antibiotics. Flower micro-mesoporous composite activators of CoS2/f-Al2O3 were synthesized via a hydrothermal synthesis method with flower Al2O3 (f-Al2O3) and CoS2 and applied to the activation of PMS.
RESULTS
The f-Al2O3 was constructed from flower-like pore structures stacked with nanosheets, which facilitated the uniform loading and dispersion of the active component of CoS2 with relatively low resistance, and the reduced sulfur species S2− promoted the regeneration of Co2+ on the activator surface. Compared with other systems in water, CoS2/f-Al2O3 activated PMS resulted in the highest decomposition ratio of 97.67% for enrofloxacin (ENR) after 30 min. CoS2 in the CoS2/f-Al2O3 composite served as the active site, where the presence of sulfur species notably increased the Co(III)/Co(II) redox cycling rate. The f-Al2O3 support played a crucial role in improving the dispersion and stability of CoS2, and these synergistic effects collectively facilitated the efficiency of the CoS2/f-Al2O3/PMS system in decomposing ENR through electron transfer and reactive oxygen species generation.
Hannah Sofiah Roslan, Ana Najwa Mustapa, Suhaiza Hanim Hanipah, Nurin Qistina Adriana Mohammad Suhaimi
Background
Accidental oil spills threaten ecosystems and water resources, while synthetic absorbents like polypropylene contribute to long-term pollution. This study explores the potential of a novel biodegradable hybrid biopolymer composed of sodium alginate (ALG) and soy protein isolate (SPI) for oil spill remediation. The ALG/SPI aerogel absorbent was synthesised via a sol–gel method. Surface modification of the ALG/SPI to enhance its hydrophobicity was performed through two techniques: (i) liquid immersion and (ii) scCO2 adsorption. The reusability, biodegradation, and toxicity tests of the ALG/SPI absorbent were evaluated, aligning with the growing concern about sustainability and reliance on synthetic or non-biodegradable materials.
Results
ALG/SPI aerogels biodegraded rapidly (80–86% mass loss in 5 weeks) while maintaining buoyancy after oil uptake. MTMS silanisation with both techniques produced superhydrophobic/oleophilic surfaces (water contact angles: surface 124–143°, cross-section 118–146°), enhancing oil selectivity and performance. The optimised 1% ALG/1.5% SPI (ALG/SPI 1:1.5) exhibited the highest contact angle of 143o, achieving 89.8% oil–water separation efficiency with 13-cycle reusability through MTMS liquid immersion. FTIR, TGA, and FESEM post-testing supported an environmentally benign profile, positioning ALG/SPI aerogels as a promising alternative to synthetic absorbents.
Laura D. Páez-Angarita, Laura X. Henao, Sebastián Jaramillo-Toro, Valentina Quezada, Silvia Restrepo, Juan C. Cruz, Johana Husserl
BACKGROUND
This study presents the development and application of magnetite/silver-pDMAEMA-PEG-BUFII nanobioconjugates as an advanced plasmid delivery system in bacteria. These nanobioconjugates demonstrated superior efficiency compared to traditional methods in four challenging applications: (i) genomic editing in Gram-positive bacteria; (ii) CRISPR/Cas9-mediated antibiotic resistance control; (iii) large plasmid delivery; and (iv) transformation in complex environmental matrices such as soil.
RESULTS
Functionalization with pDMAEMA improved plasmid loading, while PEGylation enhanced stability, dispersity, and cellular uptake. The system enabled high-efficiency transformation in Streptomyces JH010, overcoming low conjugation efficiency observed with conventional approaches. In Escherichia coli, the nanobioconjugates facilitated effective CRISPR/Cas9-based resensitization to antibiotics, achieving higher transformation and genome-editing efficiencies than traditional competent-cell methods. Furthermore, the nanobioconjugates achieved large plasmid delivery without requiring conjugation or phage-based methods, thereby simplifying transformation procedures. In soil environments, plasmid transfer was significantly enhanced compared to transformation in chemically/competent cells, demonstrating potential for bioremediation and environmental applications. Characterization confirmed successful multi-functionalization, enhanced colloidal stability, and low toxicity across bacterial models. The magnetic properties of the nanoparticles further enable potential recovery and reuse, reducing environmental impact.
Noor Khader Hussain Hussain, Berrin Saygi, Ahmet Alper Aydın, Didem Saloglu
BACKGROUND
Numerous contemporary investigations on the physical, chemical, thermal, and biological processes used to treat oil from seawater. The majority of the approaches' primary drawback, though, is how challenging it is to modify them for direct field use in traditional treatment systems. Of them, the adsorption technique is the most easily adapted to traditional water treatment systems. In this context, the presented paper investigates maltodextrin-gum arabic-silica aerogel biocomposites as ship-borne oil adsorbent from seawater performance and feasibility.
Results
The 10%, 20%, and 30% gum arabic embedded in 10% maltodextrin and 2% silica aerogel synthesized biocomposites ship-borne oil removal % values were 13.97%, 11.83%, and 28.57%, respectively. Experimental data by nonlinear isotherm and kinetics models of Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich and nonlinear kinetic models of pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order, Weber Morris, and Elovich were evaluated using STATISTICA (Version 8.0, StatSoft Inc., USA). Higher correlation coefficients (R2) and lower chi-square (χ2) represented that Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models and Weber Morris and pseudo first-order kinetic models were superior for ship-borne oil adsorption. The positive enthalpy revealed endothermic oil adsorption. The optimum independent variables resulted in a ship-borne oil removal onto maltodextrin-gum arabic-aerogel with 2.91 g/g adsorption capacity.
Despite having immense therapeutic potential, violacein, a bacterial metabolite, lacks industrial exploration owing to low titer and compromised yields. Current study explores integrated in situ strategies for enhanced biomanufacturing of violacein. In situ strategies involve simultaneous release and recovery of metabolites from biological systems while keeping the system viable for further production.
RESULTS
Sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) at a preoptimized dose of 0.005% (w/v) in the broth was selected as a permeabilizing agent for elevating the release of violacein from Chromobacterium violaceum MTCC2656. SDS modulated the cell morphology which was assessed by biochemical assays and transmission electron microscopy. SP200 was selected as an adsorbent after multi-level screening based on the requirements of in situ recovery operations. The interactions of violacein and SP200 showed pseudo-first-order kinetics of adsorption and were best fitted with Langmuir's adsorption isotherm. Insights from these studies were applied to design a process for in situ recovery of violacein from broth and improved the overall titers and productivity of violacein from 7.34 to 14.63 mg−1 L−1 h−1.
Derin Orhon, Esra Hallaç, Bülent Solmaz, Seval Sözen
BACKGROUND
This study experimentally tested and evaluated the organic carbon (COD) removal performance of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with continuous sewage feeding, to define a novel process scheme, the continuous batch reactor (CBR). The experiments involved two pilot plants: a CBR unit, and a conventional SBR unit with the same reactor volume, which operated with two cycles per day and intermittent feeding, for parallel evaluation. The study emphasized the effect of continuous feeding on COD removal and challenged the empirical practice of intermittent feeding.
RESULTS
The effluent COD of the CBR unit remained within the bracket of 50–70 mg L−1, with an average value of 67 mg L−1, while the influent COD exhibited a significant fluctuation between 400 and 600 mg L−1. The performance of the parallel SBR unit was quite similar. The cyclic soluble COD profile of the CBR unit was lowered down to a plateau right after entering the reactor, and remained constant throughout the process phase, as it primarily consisted of soluble inert COD fractions. The incremental sewage feeding during the idle phase exerted a minor increase in the effluent soluble COD level.
Lai Minh Nhat Anh, Le Tan Phong, Nguyen Thi Truc Phuong, Nguyen Van Dung, Tran Thuy Tuyet Mai, Ngo Tran Hoang Duong, Nguyen Quang Long
Background
Mentha arvensis essential oil exhibits strong insecticidal activity against stored-grain pests but suffers from high volatility and poor stability. Conventional nano-encapsulation improves stability but often yields formulations that are not ready-to-use, limiting practical applications. This study aimed to address these challenges by encapsulating corn mint essential oil into granulated zeolite X and Mordenite structures using pectin and bentonite as binders.
Results
The prepared beads were highly porous, spherical, and had a uniform diameter of approximately 3 mm. Their mechanical strength, which depended on the type of zeolite used, decreased slightly after the encapsulation process. The granulation process preserved the structural characteristics of zeolite X and zeolite MOR, allowing the pectin-bentonite-zeolite beads to effectively adsorb menthol and menthone – the primary active compounds in corn mint oil, as confirmed by GC–MS analysis. Based on TGA results, the loading capacity and encapsulation efficiency of calcined beads made with zeolite X were calculated to be approximately 12.4% and 41.33%, respectively. Under all chosen temperature points, the R2 values were greater than 0.97 for all samples, so the two-stage kinetic model is best suitable for explaining the desorption of corn mint essential oil within pectin-bentonite-zeolite beads.
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