Green production of a yellow laccase by Coriolopsis gallica for phenolic pollutants removal.

As a group of green biocatalysts, fungal laccases have aroused great interest in diverse biotechnological fields. Therein, yellow laccase has advantages over blue laccase in catalytic performance, but it is not common in the reported fungal laccases. Here, we report a yellow laccase from white-rot fungus Coriolopsis gallica NCULAC F1 about its production, purification, characterization, and application. Laccase production in the co-fermentation of pomelo peel and wheat bran reached the enzyme activity by 10,690 U/L after 5 days with a 13.58-time increase. After three steps of purification, laccase increased the specific activity from 30.78 to 188.79 U/mg protein with an activity recovery of 45.64%. The purified C. gallica laccase (CGLac) showed a molecular mass of about 57 kDa. CGLac had a yellow color and no absorption peaks at 610 nm and 330 nm, suggesting that it's a yellow laccase. CGLac exhibited stability towards temperature (40-60 °C) and neutral pH (6.0-8.0). Fe3+ and Mn2+ strongly stimulated CGLac activity by 162.56% and 226.05%, respectively. CGLac remained high activities when exposed to organic reagents and putative inhibitors. Additionally, CGLac contributed to 90.78%, 93.26%, and 99.66% removal of phenol, p-chlorophenol and bisphenol A after 120 min, respectively. In conclusion, a green efficient production strategy was introduced for fungal laccase, and the obtained CGLac presented great enzymatic properties and catalytic potential in the removal of phenolic pollutants.

Application of Phosphate Materials as Constructed Wetland Fillers for Efficient Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater.

Constructed wetlands are an environmentally friendly and economically efficient sewage treatment technology. Heavy metals (HMs) removal is always regarded as one of the most important tasks in constructed wetlands, which have aroused increasing concern in the field of contamination control in recent times. The fillers of constructed wetlands play an important role in HMs removal. However, traditional wetland fillers (e.g., zeolite, sand, and gravel) are known to be imperfect because of their low adsorption capacity. Regarding HMs removal, our work involved the selection of prominent absorbents, the evaluation of adsorption stability for various treatments, and then the possibility of applying this HM removal technology to constructed wetlands. For this purpose, several phosphate materials were tested to remove the heavy metals Cu and Zn. Three good phosphates including hydroxyapatite (HAP), calcium phosphate (CP), and physic acid sodium salt hydrate (PAS) demonstrated fast removal efficiency of HMs (Cu2+, Zn2+) from aqueous solution. The maximum removal rates of Cu2+ and Zn2+ by HAP, CP, and PAS reached 81.6% and 95.8%; 66.9% and 70.4%; 98.8% and 1.99%, respectively. In addition, better adsorption stability of these heavy metals was found to occur with a wide variation of desorption time and pH range. The most remarkable efficiency for heavy metal removal among tested phosphates was PAS, followed by HAP and CP. This study can provide a basis for the application of HMs removal in manmade wetland systems.

A novel algal biofilm photobioreactor for efficient hog manure wastewater utilization and treatment.

This study developed a high-efficiency algal biofilm photobioreactor for microalgae by designing a special array of curtain membrane components. This paper also discusses the growth and nutrient composition of Chlorella vulgaris, and hog manure wastewater utilization and purification. It was found that after about 5 days of culture, the biomass of C. vulgaris on the membrane could reach as high as 7.37 g/m2 and the algae were easily harvested by mechanical scraping. The lipid content of C. vulgaris on the membrane structure was 10.17% while the lipid content of the algae in suspension was 14.29%. The light intensity showed a significant effect on the fatty acid composition. The C. vulgaris grew very well, and achieved deep purification of the hog manure wastewater; the COD, TP, TN, and NH4+-N removal rates reached 95.67%, 64.40%, 69.55%, and 91.24%, respectively.