Investigating the effect of electrosprayed alginate/PVA beads size on the microbial growth kinetics: Phenol biodegradation through immobilized activated sludge.

The presence of cyclic organic compounds, including phenol, in the wastewater of many industries has made phenol removal an important issue. Meanwhile, the biological methods of removing phenol have attracted the attention of researchers in recent years. Recently, the use of immobilized microbial cells is proposed as a new approach in industrial wastewater treatment. In this research, the aim is to study the effect of immobilized beads size on the phenol biodegradation efficiency and specific microbial growth rate. For this purpose, electrospray technique was used to immobilize activated sludge in hybrid matrix of alginate and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The fabricated alginate/PVA beads were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Evaluation of the results related to the free and immobilized cell systems in the shake flask experiments showed that at low phenol concentrations the immobilized cell system had the same performance as the free cell system, while the immobilized cell system at higher concentrations had a better performance in removing phenol so that at a concentration of 2000 mg/L, removal percentage has increased from 15% to 25-34%. On the other hand, in this survey, the kinetic behavior of activated sludge was in good agreement with Haldane's equation. Moreover, the maximum specific growth rate was measured 0.033 and 0.041 (h-1) beside 544 and 636 mg/L substrate inhibition constant, for free and immobilized cell systems, respectively. This result shows that the phenol biodegradation has been improved by using the cell immobilization technique especially with applying the smaller beads, which is due to improved mass transfer and microbial cell protection from harsh environments.

Improving mass transfer rates in microbial cell immobilization system for environmental applications: Synergistic interaction of cells on crude oil biodegradation.

Among the various techniques used to clean up polluted environments, bioremediation is the most cost-effective and eco-friendly option. The diversity of microbial communities in a consortium can significantly affect the biodegradability of hazardous organic pollutants, particularly for in situ bioremediation processes. This is largely attributed to interactions between members of a consortium. In this study, the effect of internal diffusion limitations in substrate model biodegradation was firstly examined by immobilized bacterial cells at different particle sizes produced by the electrospray technique. According to the obtained results, for particles with large size, the effectiveness factors (η) were about 0.58-0.67, and the resistance to diffusive on the biodegradation rate was significant, while with decreasing the particle size, η increases and approaches about 1. After selection of suitable bead size, heavy crude oil biodegradation was investigated using a consortium consisting of three oil-degrading bacterial strains at different treatment systems. The removal rate in the suspended co-culture system stands at minimum value of 38% with all three strains which is an indicator of negative interactions among consortium members. Independent immobilization of microorganisms minimizes the competition and antagonistic interactions between strains and leads to more crude oil removal, so that, the biodegradation rate reached 60%.

Enhanced survival of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus in simulated gastrointestinal conditions using layer-by-layer encapsulation.

OBJECTIVE: The release behavior of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus from single bilayer microcapsules of alginate-chitosan (AC) and its double bilayer (ACAC) was investigated in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF). Methods Multilayer polyelectrolyte AC microcapsules were fabricated using the layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technique through electrostatic interactions. Results AC and ACAC microcapsules kept their integrity and mechanical stability in simulated gastric conditions. Bacterial cells remained inside microcapsules in SGF and dissolution of microcapsules was observed in SIF. To improve the bacterial survivability, L. rhamnosus was co-encapsulated in a double bilayer of AC hydrogels with calcium carbonate as an antacid agent. Conclusions The LbL self-assembly technology provides stable and target release for ACAC microcapsules. Therefore, the double bilayer polyelectrolyte microcapsules have a remarkable potential for successful application in the targeted and controlled delivery of different probiotics and drugs.

Synergistic adsorption and biodegradation of heavy crude oil by a novel hybrid matrix containing immobilized Bacillus licheniformis: Aqueous phase and soil bioremediation.

Recently, slurry phase bioremediation as a simple and economical method is shown to be a successful technique for remediation of clayey soils. Besides, the use of microbial cell immobilization as a promising technique has drawn the attention of some researchers. The primary objective of this survey is to examine the synergistic adsorption and biodegradation performance of heavy crude oil by an isolated Bacillus licheniformis immobilized in a novel hybrid matrix (PUF/alginate/microbial cell) in aqueous phase. Isotherm studies and adsorption kinetics of crude oil on PUF matrix were carried out and their results revealed a good correlation between experimental data and Langmuir's isotherm and maximum monolayer coverage was found out to be 1.25 g/g PUF. The other objective of this research is examination of hybrid matrix in slurry phase bioremediation of heavy crude oil polluted clayey soil as a reluctant model soil. In order to model, optimize, and investigate the factors affecting the total organic carbon (TOC) reduction, response surface methodology (RSM) was applied. For this purpose, the effect of three variables including crude oil concentration (5000-25,000 mg/kg dry soil), soil salinity (0-10%), and water to soil ratio (WSR: 2-10) have been studied. In this study, TOC reduction was achieved in ranging from 39% to 80% in crude oil polluted soil after 21 days. Additionally, experiments by polyurethane foam (PUF)-immobilized cell, alginate-immobilized cell, and freely cell suspended systems were conducted to compare the performance of hybrid-immobilized cell with other systems. Our results showed the superiority of immobilized cells in hybrid matrix of PUF/alginate compared to other immobilized cell (IC) and free cell (FC) systems. Overall, the results indicated that the hybrid matrix with simultaneous adsorption-biodegradation capacity is potentially suitable for further development for oil spill treatment and it can be used as an efficient cleaning method in TOC removal from actual polluted soils.

Enhanced biodegradation of light crude oil by immobilized Bacillus licheniformis in fabricated alginate beads through electrospray technique.

Petroleum contamination of marine environments due to exploitation and accidental spills causes serious harm to ecosystems. Bioremediation with immobilized microorganisms is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective emerging technology for treating oil-polluted environments. In this study, Bacillus licheniformis was entrapped in Ca alginate beads using the electrospray technique for light crude oil biodegradation. Three important process variables, including inoculum size (5-15% v/v), initial oil concentration (1500-3500 ppm), and NaCl concentration (0-30 g/L), were optimized to obtain the best response of crude oil removal using response surface methodology (RSM) and Box-Behnken design (BBD). The highest crude oil removal of 79.58% was obtained for 1500 ppm of crude oil after 14 days using immobilized cells, and it was lower for freely suspended cells (64.77%). Our result showed similar trends in the effect of variables on the oil biodegradation rate in both free cell (FC) and immobilized cell (IC) systems. However, according to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results, the extent of the variables' effectiveness was different in FC and IC systems. In the immobilized cell system, all variables had a greater effect on the rate of light crude oil degradation. Moreover, to evaluate the effectiveness of free and immobilized B. licheniformis in bioremediation of an actual polluted site, the crude oil spill in natural seawater was investigated. The results suggested the stability of beads in the seawater, as well as high degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by free and immobilized cells in the presence of indigenous microorganisms.

Adaptive harmony search algorithm for mechanical performance optimization of properties of particleboard from cotton stalk.

In this study, the optimum conditions for manufacturing particleboard-based waste cotton stalks were evaluated to achieve a good performance of mechanical properties. The response surface methodology (RSM) is used to calibrate the experiment results based on input variables consisting of the weight ratio of melamine formaldehyde to urea-formaldehyde (MU) resins, shelling ratio (SR), and the proportion of cotton particles to poplar particle (CP) in the core layer. An adaptive harmony search (AHS) algorithm is offered to search the optimum constructing conditions of mechanical properties for the composite particleboard using two optimization models. The optimum conditions are evaluated using maximum performance of mechanical properties. Besides, the optimum conditions are searched based on the material cost of the mechanical properties of composite particleboard that are utilized in its constraints. The results showed that the RSM can provide a perfect prediction for the mechanical properties of particleboard. The AHS is successfully applied to optimize the composite conditions. In the first optimization application, the optimal point is obtained for input variables in composite as 21.91% MU, 37.10% SR, and 13.54% CP. However, in the second condition, the optimum conditions are obtained for a good level as 18.32% MU, 51.71% SR, and 8.37% CP in the core layer.

Investigation of Bacillus licheniformis in the biodegradation of Iranian heavy crude oil: A two-stage sequential approach containing factor-screening and optimization.

Oil pollution is a serious international concern due to its harmful effect on human health and the environment. This study aims to investigate the effective factors on the biodegradation of Iranian heavy crude oil by Bacillus licheniformis. For this purpose, oil removal from the artificial seawater was studied by response surface methodology (RSM). After the screening experiments, pH (4-10), NaCl concentration (0-10 g/L), and oil concentration (500-4500 ppm) were selected as influential factors. Moreover, to evaluate the bacterial capability in bioremediation of an actual polluted site, crude oil spill with a salinity of 35 g/L was experimentally simulated. The proposed model in this study clearly shows that both selected individual factors and their interactions are significantly effective on the crude oil biodegradation capacity. The results showed that Bacillus licheniformis was able to degrade crude oil at different concentrations of oil, especially at low concentrations, which are challenging in actual polluted sites. 15%-66% removal was achieved for 500-4500 ppm of crude oil after 14 days. Furthermore, according to the obtained results, this bacterium can tolerate the salinity up to 3.5%. At this salinity level, crude oil removal was 23.43 and 25.64% in neutral and alkaline conditions, respectively. Process factors were optimized, and 54.8% of crude oil was removed at optimum conditions i.e., 3500 ppm crude oil concentration, 2.5 g/L of NaCl and pH equal to 8.5. Finally, it can be concluded that the selected bacterium of this study can be more effective in harsh environments such as hypersaline and alkaline conditions.

Statistical modeling and optimization of Toluidine Red biodegradation in a synthetic wastewater using Halomonas strain Gb.

BACKGROUND: Synthetic dye wastewater is a group of environmental pollutants that are widely used in some industries like textile, printing, dyeing and etc. Traditional treatment methods for wastewaters containing synthetic dyes are considered as expensive and time consuming approaches due to the chemical stability of these pollutants. Therefore, in recent years, biodegradation by means of capable microorganisms has been considered as an effective way to remove these pollutants. Hence, the present study has aimed at examining the decolorization of Toluidine Red (C.I. no.12120), which is an oil soluble azo dye, as the sole sources of carbon and energy from a synthetic dye wastewater by the halophilic Halomonas strain Gb bacterium. In order to model, optimize, and investigate the individual factors affecting the biodegradation capacity of this dye by Halomonas strain Gb, for the first time response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD) were applied. METHODS: In this research, statistical modeling and optimization were performed by Design Expert software version 10 and the degradation capacity was considered by carrying out 30 tests using RSM method. For this purpose, the effect of 4 variables included dye concentration (10-30 ppm), salt concentration (2-10%), pH (5.5-9.5), and temperature (20-40) at different times of 2nd, 4th, and 10th days have been studied. Then, a second-order function was presented for the amount of dye removal in terms of the four selected variables, based on statistical modeling. RESULTS: According to the obtained results and analysis of variance, all main variables were found to be significantly effective on the biodegradation capacity. With regard to the results, the highest amount of biodegradation between different days was 81% and observed at the 4th day, while the optimum conditions for the maximum biodegradation of this time has been determined at pH of 6.5, temperature of 35 °C, and salt and dye concentrations were equivalent to 4% and 25 ppm, respectively. There is 11% relative error between the experimental and predicted results in the selected experiments, which confirms the reliability of the obtained correlation for calculating the decolorization capacity. CONCLUSION: In accordance with the results, the proposed model can provide a good prediction of the effect of different conditions on the biodegradation of Toluidine Red, and the optimization results in this study have been consistent with the previous studies conducted with the IP8 and D2 strains by the OFAT method. Moreover, the proposed model may help in better understanding the impact of main effects and interaction between variables on the dye removal. Overall, the results indicated that the halophilic bacterium used in dye removal can be more effective in high-salinity environments.

Recent advances on pollutants removal by rice husk as a bio-based adsorbent: A critical review.

Rice husk is an attractive bio-based adsorbent material for pollutant removal since it is one of the low-cost and renewable resources. The objective of this review is to give a summary of the key scientific features related to pollutants removal using rice husk, with a specific emphasis on the effect of factors on adsorption capacity of rice husk. According to the results, rice husk has the removal potential of various pollutants and it can be more used in the wastewater treatment. On the other hand, untreated bio-based adsorbent in large-scale application can usually cause some difficulties and selection of appropriate pretreatment method for rice husk is also one of the major challenges. Therefore, this review studies different pretreatment methods as well as regeneration of adsorbent and the fate of adsorbed contaminants. According to the literature, pretreatment methods increase the rice husk capability and adsorption capacity and the chemical treatments have been more used than thermal treatments. Also, regeneration of rice husk adsorbent and adsorbed contaminants is applicable. Finally, examples of some applications and possibility of biocatalyst immobilization on the rice husk as a promising approach are presented. Results confirmed that rice husk has an excellent prospective potential for biocatalysts immobilization.

Experimental investigation into size and sphericity of alginate micro-beads produced by electrospraying technique: Operational condition optimization.

Alginate spherical hydrogel beads have several applications in biomedical and biological processes in which the bead size and sphericity are critical factors affecting mass transfer phenomena. Electrospraying technology facilitates generation of small and almost uniform beads with higher diffusion rate resulting in process performance improvement. There are several key factors affecting particle size and shape behavior of electrosprayed alginate beads meanwhile interactions between these factors introduce complexity in determining appropriate conditions to produce spherical beads with the size of interest. Thus, the need to achieve reliable products has put growing emphasis on the use of modeling methodology to establish correlations between particle size and affecting variables as well as sphericity coefficient and meaningful factors. Obviously, a more applicable model based on intentionally manipulatable factors would spark a great deal of interest for practical engineering applications. In this regard we employed a central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM) to model the diameter and sphericity coefficient of electrosprayed alginate beads for the first time. Two quadratic models were obtained in which the effectiveness order of the variables were found. We could benefit from this RSM-based empirical model not only for better understanding the complex physics of the electrospraying process, but also for selection of factors and their levels to produce alginate micro-beads with appropriate size and sphericity. The results indicate that the alginate concentration, voltage and needle size have the strongest influence on both response variables. The quite spherical beads with a minimum size of 130 µm can be obtained at alginate concentration of 1.5%, voltage of 11 kV, and needle size of 26 G.

Comparison of phenanthrene biodegradation by free and immobilized cell systems: formation of hydroxylated compounds.

One of the foremost environmental issues having a key role in the feasibility study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) biodegradation is the concern of the toxicity of the formed intermediate metabolites. In this study, biodegradability of phenanthrene (PHE) at initial concentrations of 100-500 ppm and its hydroxylated intermediate metabolites (IMs) in aqueous phase were investigated using free cells (FC) and immobilized cells (IC) in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) cryogel beads. Results showed that both FC and IC systems were capable of complete PHE biodegradation at initial concentrations lower than 250 ppm after 7 days, though IC system showed a higher PHE removal rate. The maximum IM concentrations observed at initial PHE concentrations of 100 and 250 ppm were 20 and 49 ppm for FC system, whereas 7.4 and 19 ppm were obtained for IC system, respectively, and IMs were finally removed after 7 days. Similarly, at 500 ppm, IC system resulted in higher removal of PHE compared to FC system. However, during the 7-day period for FC system, IMs concentration rose up to 59 ppm, while for IC system, IMs concentration reaches a maximum at day 5 and thereafter it follows a negative rate. It was also shown that resorcinol as an indicator of hydroxylated aromatic metabolites at concentrations of 0-100 ppm can well be biodegraded by free and immobilized cell systems. No prohibition on PHE biodegradation could hence occur due to IMs formation. Additionally, stability of IC system was examined in repeated-batch cultures, showing the effective removal of PHE up to nine reuse cycles.

Carbon content reduction in a model reluctant clayey soil: slurry phase n-hexadecane bioremediation.

Clayey soils contaminated with organic pollutants are nowadays one of the important environmental issues as they are highly reluctant to conventional bioremediation techniques. In this study, biodegradability of n-hexadecane as a model contaminant in oil polluted clayey soil by an indigenous bacterium was investigated. Maximal bacterial growth was achieved at 8% (v/v) n-hexadecane as sole carbon and energy sources in aqueous phase. The predominant n-hexadecane uptake mechanism was identified to be biosurfactant-mediated using bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbon (BATH) test and surface tension measurements. The effect of n-hexadecane concentration, soil to water ratio, inoculum concentration and pH on total organic carbon (TOC) reduction from kaolin soil in slurry phase was investigated at two levels in shake flasks using full factorial experimental design method where 10,000 (mg n-hexadecane)(kg soil)(-1), soil-water ratio of 1:3, 10% (v/w) inoculum and pH of 7 resulted in the highest TOC reduction of 70% within 20 days. Additionally, slurry bioreactor experiments were performed to study the effect of various aeration rates on n-hexadecane biodegradation during 9 days where 2.5 vvm was found as an appropriate aeration rate leading to 54% TOC reduction. Slurry phase bioremediation is shown to be a successful method for remediation of clayey reluctant soils.