Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) for agro-food waste and wastewater treatment, and sustainable bioenergy-A review.

Producing food by farming and subsequent food manufacturing are central to the world's food supply, accounting for more than half of all production. Production is, however, closely related to the creation of large amounts of organic wastes or byproducts (agro-food waste or wastewater) that negatively impact the environment and the climate. Global climate change mitigation is an urgent need that necessitates sustainable development. For that purpose, proper agro-food waste and wastewater management are essential, not only for waste reduction but also for resource optimization. To achieve sustainability in food production, biotechnology is considered as key factor since its continuous development and broad implementation will potentially benefit ecosystems by turning polluting waste into biodegradable materials; this will become more feasible and common as environmentally friendly industrial processes improve. Bioelectrochemical systems are a revitalized, promising biotechnology integrating microorganisms (or enzymes) with multifaceted applications. The technology can efficiently reduce waste and wastewater while recovering energy and chemicals, taking advantage of their biological elements' specific redox processes. In this review, a consolidated description of agro-food waste and wastewater and its remediation possibilities, using different bioelectrochemical-based systems is presented and discussed together with a critical view of the current and future potential applications.

Review of the Developments of Bacterial Medium-Chain-Length Polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs).

Synthetic plastics derived from fossil fuels-such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyrene-are non-degradable. A large amount of plastic waste enters landfills and pollutes the environment. Hence, there is an urgent need to produce biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHAs have garnered increasing interest as replaceable materials to conventional plastics due to their broad applicability in various purposes such as food packaging, agriculture, tissue-engineering scaffolds, and drug delivery. Based on the chain length of 3-hydroxyalkanoate repeat units, there are three types PHAs, i.e., short-chain-length (scl-PHAs, 4 to 5 carbon atoms), medium-chain-length (mcl-PHAs, 6 to 14 carbon atoms), and long-chain-length (lcl-PHAs, more than 14 carbon atoms). Previous reviews discussed the recent developments in scl-PHAs, but there are limited reviews specifically focused on the developments of mcl-PHAs. Hence, this review focused on the mcl-PHA production, using various carbon (organic/inorganic) sources and at different operation modes (continuous, batch, fed-batch, and high-cell density). This review also focused on recent developments on extraction methods of mcl-PHAs (solvent, non-solvent, enzymatic, ultrasound); physical/thermal properties (Mw, Mn, PDI, Tm, Tg, and crystallinity); applications in various fields; and their production at pilot and industrial scales in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Recent biotechnological developments in reshaping the microalgal genome: A signal for green recovery in biorefinery practices.

The use of renewable energy sources as a substitute for nonrenewable fossil fuels is urgently required. Algae biorefinery platform provides an excellent alternate to overcome future energy problems. However, to let this viable biomass be competent with existing feedstocks, it is necessary to exploit genetic manipulation and improvement in upstream and downstream platforms for optimal bio-product recovery. Furthermore, the techno-economic strategies further maximize metabolites production for biofuel, biohydrogen, and other industrial applications. The experimental methodologies in algal photobioreactor promote high biomass production, enriched in lipid and starch content in limited environmental conditions. This review presents an optimization framework combining genetic manipulation methods to simulate microalgal growth dynamics, understand the complexity of algal biorefinery to scale up, and identify green strategies for techno-economic feasibility of algae for biomass conversion. Overall, the algal biorefinery opens up new possibilities for the valorization of algae biomass and the synthesis of various novel products.

Regulation and augmentation of anaerobic digestion processes via the use of bioelectrochemical systems.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological process that can be used to treat a wide range of carbon-rich wastes and producerenewable, green energy. To maximize energy recovery from various resources while controlling inhibitory chemicals, notwithstanding AD's efficiency, many limitations must be addressed. As a result, bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) have emerged as a hybrid technology, extensively studied to remediate AD inhibitory chemicals, increase AD operating efficacy, and make the process economically viable via integration approaches. Biogas and residual intermediatory metabolites such as volatile fatty acids are upgraded to value-added chemicals and fuels with the help of the BES as a pre-treatment step, within AD or after the AD process. It may also be used directly to generate power. To overcome the constraints of AD in lab-scale applications, this article summarizes BES technology and operations and endorses ways to scale up BES-AD systems in the future.

Algae biorefinery: A promising approach to promote microalgae industry and waste utilization.

Microalgae have a number of intriguing characteristics that make them a viable raw material aimed at usage in a variety of applications when refined using a bio-refining process. They offer unique capabilities that allow them to be used in biotechnology-related applications. As a result, this review explores how to increase the extent to which microalgae may be integrated with various additional biorefinery uses in order to improve their maintainability. In this study, the use of microalgae as potential animal feed, manure, medicinal, cosmeceutical, ecological, and other biotechnological uses is examined in its entirety. It also includes information on the boundaries, openings, and improvements of microalgae and the possibilities of increasing the range of microalgae through techno-economic analysis. According to the findings of this review, financing supported research and shifting the focus of microalgal investigations from biofuels production to biorefinery co-products can help guarantee that they remain a viable resource. Furthermore, innovation collaboration is unavoidable if one wishes to avoid the high cost of microalgae biomass handling. This review is expected to be useful in identifying the possible role of microalgae in biorefinery applications in the future.

Bioelectricity generation using long-term operated biocathode: RFLP based microbial diversity analysis.

In the present work, power generation and substrate removal efficiencies of long-term operated microbial fuel cells, containing abiotic cathodes and biocathodes, were evaluated for 220 days. Among the two microbial fuel cell (MFC) types, the one containing biocathode showed higher power density (54 mW/m2), current density (122 mA/m2) coulombic efficiency (33%), and substrate removal efficiency (94%) than the abiotic cathode containing MFC. Voltammetric analysis also witnessed higher and sustainable electron discharge for the MFC with biocathode, when compared with the abiotic cathode MFC. Over the tested period, both MFC have shown a cell voltage drop, after 150 and 165, days, for the MFC with biocathode and abiotic cathodes, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis identified 281 clones. Bacteria belonging to Acinetobacter, Acidovorax, Pseudomonas and Burkholderia were observed in the abiotic cathode MFC. Bacteria belonging to Geobacter, Cupriavidus and Acidobacteria were observed in the biocathode MFC. Almost similar types of archaea (Methanosarcinales, Methanolinea, Nitrososphaera and Methanomicrobiales) were observed in both MFCs.

Removal of fluoride from aqueous phase by biosorption onto algal biosorbent Spirogyra sp.-IO2: sorption mechanism elucidation.

This communication presents results pertaining to the adsorptive studies carried out on fluoride removal onto algal biosorbent (Spirogyra IO2). Batch sorption studies were performed and the results revealed that biosorbent demonstrated ability to adsorb the fluoride. Influence of varying the conditions for removal of fluoride, such as the fluoride concentration, the pH of aqueous solution, the dosage of adsorbent, the temperature on removal of fluoride, and the adsorption-desorption studies were investigated. Sorption interaction of fluoride on to algal species obeyed the pseudo first order rate equation. Experimental data showed good fit with the Langmuir's adsorption isotherm model. Fluoride sorption was found to be dependent on the aqueous phase pH and the uptake was observed to be greater at lower pH. Maximum fluoride sorption was observed at operating 30 degrees C operating temperature. Adsorption-desorption of fluoride into inorganic solutions and distilled water was observed and this indicated the combined effect of ion exchange and physical sorption phenomena. Significant changes in the FT-IR spectra was observed after fluoride sorption which is indicative of the participation of surface function groups associated with hydrogen atoms in the carboxylic groups in sorption interaction. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis a marginal increase in the area for the binding energy peak at 287.4eV was observed which could be due to the formation of -C-F- bonds. Thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis of the fluoride loaded sorbent showed that the biosorbent underwent three steps decomposition process when heated from 25 to 100 degrees C. The maximum weight loss was observed to be between 200 and 400 degrees C and 700 and 800 degrees C.

Biosorption of fluoride from aqueous phase onto algal Spirogyra IO1 and evaluation of adsorption kinetics.

Non-viable algal Spirogyra IO1 was studied for its fluoride sorption potential in batch studies. The results demonstrated the ability of the biosorbent for fluoride removal. The sorption interaction of fluoride on to non-viable algal species obeyed the pseudo-first-order rate equation. The intraparticle diffusion of fluoride molecules within the Spirogyra was identified to be the rate-limiting step. It was also found that the adsorption isotherm followed the rearranged Langmuir isotherm adsorption model. Fluoride sorption was dependent on the aqueous phase pH and the fluoride uptake was greater at lower pH.

Monitoring of fluoride concentration in ground water of Prakasham District in India: correlation with physico-chemical parameters.

Fluoride concentrations in surface and ground water samples were determined in eight villages of Prakasham district in India. Thirty-eight samples were collected and analysed for fluoride content along with pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness, total alkalinity, chlorides (C1), sulfates (SO2-) and nitrates (NO ). Fluoride concentrations in surface and ground water samples of these villages varied between 0.5 and 9.0 mg/L. Groundwater samples contained high concentrations of fluorides compared to open well and pond water samples, which could be a major source of fluoride in water since the geological formation of this area consists of fluorite and fluoropatite. From the data, it is evident that the population in the study area is severely affected by fluorosis. Dental and skeletal fluorosis and deformation of bones in children as well as adults were observed in the study area indicating the consequences of excess fluoride concentration. Fluoride concentrations showed good correlation with TDS concentrations (R2 of 0.61) compared to other physico-chemical parameters [EC (R2 - 0.36), nitrate (R - 0.24), total hardness (R - 0.12), chloride (R2 - 0.06) and sulfate (R2 - 4 x 10(-6))].

Laccase production using Pleurotus ostreatus 1804 immobilized on PUF cubes in batch and packed bed reactors: influence of culture conditions.

The feasibility of laccase production by immobilization of Pleurotus ostreatus 1804 on polyurethane foam (PUF) cubes with respect to media composition was studied in both batch and reactor systems. Enhanced laccase yield was evidenced due to immobilization. A relatively high maximum laccase activity of 312.6 U was observed with immobilized mycelia in shake flasks compared to the maximum laccase activity of free mycelia (272.2 U). It is evident from this study that the culture conditions studied, i.e. biomass level, pH, substrate concentration, yeast extract concentration, Cu2+ concentration, and alcohol nature, showed significant influence on the laccase yield. Gel electrophoretic analysis showed the molecular weight of the laccase produced by immobilized P. ostreatus to be 66 kDa. The laccase yield was significantly higher and more rapid in the packed bed reactor than in the shake flask experiments. A maximum laccase yield of 392.9 U was observed within 144 h of the fermentation period with complete glucose depletion.