Removal of 17α-ethinylestradiol and caffeine from wastewater by UASB-Fenton coupled system.

In aquatic systems, some substances considered as endocrine disruptors have been detected, which can be due to their incomplete elimination in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and inadequate disposal of pharmaceuticals. Among these contaminants are 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and caffeine (CAF). Moreover, it has been reported that this kind of contaminants may provoke different adverse effects in many aquatic organisms. Because of that, in the present study, up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB) coupled with the Fenton process was evaluated for EE2 and CAF removal spiked in wastewater samples. First, the best reaction conditions were established in each process. For UASB reactor, two hydraulic retention times (HRT 8 and 24 h) were evaluated, achieving the highest chemical organic demand (COD) removal (70 %) and drug elimination (84 %-86 %) with HRT 24 h. Subsequently, Fenton process was conducted at pH 3 with different levels of Fe2+ (0.05-0.5 mmol/L) and molar ratios Fe2+:H2O2 (1:1-1:10). Better results were obtained with 0.5 mmol Fe2+/L, and 1:10 ratio molar Fe2+:H2O2. Finally, UASB-Fenton coupled system allowed 80 % of COD decrease, almost complete removal of drugs and the toxicity of samples on Vibrio fischeri was reduced from 73 % to 30 %, demonstrating that this coupled system is a promising and efficient system for pharmaceutical compounds removal from wastewater.

Assessment of methods to recover DNA from bacteria, fungi and archaea in complex environmental samples.

DNA extraction from environmental samples is a critical step for metagenomic analysis to study microbial communities, including those considered uncultivable. Nevertheless, obtaining good quality DNA in sufficient quantities for downstream methodologies is not always possible, and it depends on the complexity and stability of each ecosystem, which could be more problematic for samples from tropical regions because those ecosystems are less stable and more complex. Three laboratory methods for the extraction of nucleic acids from samples representing unstable (decaying coffee pulp and mangrove sediments) and relatively stable (compost and soil) environments were tested. The results were compared with those obtained using two commercial DNA extraction kits. The quality of the extracted DNA was evaluated by PCR amplification to verify the recovery of bacterial, archaeal, and fungal genetic material. The laboratory method that gave the best results used a lysis procedure combining physical, chemical, and enzymatic steps.

Una generalización del modelo de reacciones en serie y paralelo serie para reactores de mezcla completa / A generalization of the series and parallel-series reaction model for complete mix reactors

Este trabajo se organiza alrededor de cinco lemas. En los tres primeros lemas se generalizó el modelo de reacciones de primer orden consecutivas en serie en un reactor de mezcla completa en fase líquida y se obtuvo soluciones algebraicas para las concentraciones normalizadas del compuesto madre, especies intermedias, y compuesto producto final para un esquema de "p" pasos y p+ 1 especies. También se demostró que solamente existen soluciones algebraicas para la concentración máxima de la especie A2 y el tiempo de retención en que dicha concentración es alcanzada tA2,max. En los dos últimos lemas se desarrolló ecuaciones generales para las concentraciones normalizadas de reactivo, compuestos intermediarios y producto final del modelo paralelo-serie generalizado de reacciones de primer orden de dos ramas y "p" pasos en cada rama para un reactor de mezcla completa. Finalmente, se simuló la decloración reductiva de PCE de cuatro pasos y cinco especies químicas (reacciones en serie) utilizando uno de los modelos determinados aquí, así como la decloración reductiva del 2,4,6-triclorofenol (TCF) (arreglo en paralelo serie de dos ramas paralelas y 4 especies por rama) y sus intermediarios. Ambas simulaciones predijeron razonablemente bien las concentraciones de PCE y TCF, así como sus respectivos compuestos intermediarios para casos reportados en la literatura.