Potential bioremediation of mercury-contaminated substrate using filamentous fungi isolated from forest soil.

The use of filamentous fungi in bioremediation of heavy metal contamination has been developed recently. This research aims to observe the capability of filamentous fungi isolated from forest soil for bioremediation of mercury contamination in a substrate. Six fungal strains were selected based on their capability to grow in 25 mg/L Hg(2+)-contaminated potato dextrose agar plates. Fungal strain KRP1 showed the highest ratio of growth diameter, 0.831, thus was chosen for further observation. Identification based on colony and cell morphology carried out by 18S rRNA analysis gave a 98% match to Aspergillus flavus strain KRP1. The fungal characteristics in mercury(II) contamination such as range of optimum pH, optimum temperature and tolerance level were 5.5-7 and 25-35°C and 100 mg/L respectively. The concentration of mercury in the media affected fungal growth during lag phases. The capability of the fungal strain to remove the mercury(II) contaminant was evaluated in 100 mL sterile 10 mg/L Hg(2+)-contaminated potato dextrose broth media in 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks inoculated with 10(8) spore/mL fungal spore suspension and incubation at 30°C for 7 days. The mercury(II) utilization was observed for flasks shaken in a 130 r/min orbital shaker (shaken) and non-shaken flasks (static) treatments. Flasks containing contaminated media with no fungal spores were also provided as control. All treatments were done in triplicate. The strain was able to remove 97.50% and 98.73% mercury from shaken and static systems respectively. A. flavus strain KRP1 seems to have potential use in bioremediation of aqueous substrates containing mercury(II) through a biosorption mechanism.

Effect of different carbon sources on the biological phosphorus removal by a sequencing batch reactor using pressurized pure oxygen.

The effect of different carbon source on the efficiency of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) from synthetic wastewater with acetate and two ratios of acetate/starch as a carbon source was investigated. Three pressurized pure oxygen sequencing batch reactor (POSBR) experiments were operated. The reactors (POSBR1, POSBR2 and POSBR3) were developed and studied at different carbon source ratios of 100% acetate, 75% acetate plus 25% starch and 50% acetate plus 50% starch, respectively. The results showed that POSBR1 had a higher phosphate release-to-uptake ratio and, respectively, in a much higher phosphorus removal efficiency (93.8%) than POSBR2 (84.7%) and POSBR3 (77.3%) within 30 days of operation. This indicated that the phosphorus removal efficiency decreased the higher the starch concentration was. It was also found that POSBR1 produced more polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) than the other reactors. Based on the effect of the carbon source on the PHA concentration and consumption, the conditions of POSBR1 were favourable for the growth of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms and therefore, beneficial for the biological phosphorus removal process.