La Sassa cave: Isotopic evidence for Copper Age and Bronze Age population dynamics in Central Italy.

This study focuses on the changes in diet and mobility of people buried in the La Sassa cave (Latium, Central Italy) during the Copper and Bronze Ages to contribute to the understanding of the complex contemporary population dynamics in Central Italy. To that purpose, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses, strontium isotope analyses, and FT-IR evaluations were performed on human and faunal remains from this cave. The stable isotope analyses evidence a slight shift in diet between Copper and Bronze Age individuals, which becomes prominent in an individual, dating from a late phase, when the cave was mainly used as a cultic shelter. This diachronic study documents an increased dietary variability due to the introduction of novel resources in these protohistoric societies, possibly related to the southward spread of northern human groups into Central Italy. This contact between different cultures is also testified by the pottery typology found in the cave. The latter shows an increase in cultural intermingling starting during the beginning of the middle Bronze Age. The local mobility during this phase likely involved multiple communities scattered throughout an area of a few kilometers around the cave, which used the latter as a burial site both in the Copper and Bronze ages.

Galdieria sulphuraria ACUF427 Freeze-Dried Biomass as Novel Biosorbent for Rare Earth Elements.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential components of modern technologies and are often challenging to acquire from natural resources. The demand for REEs is so high that there is a clear need to develop efficient and environmentally-friendly recycling methods. In the present study, freeze-dried cells of the extremophile Galdieria sulphuraria were employed to recover yttrium, cerium, europium, and terbium from quaternary-metal aqueous solutions. The biosorption capacity of G. sulphuraria freeze-dried algal biomass was tested at different pHs, contact times, and biosorbent dosages. All rare earths were biosorbed in a more efficient way by the lowest dose of biosorbent, at pH 4.5, within 30 min; the highest removal rate of cerium was recorded at acidic pH (2.5) and after a longer contact time, i.e., 360 min. This study confirms the potential of freeze-dried cells of G. sulphuraria as innovative ecological biosorbents in technological applications for sustainable recycling of metals from e-waste and wastewater.

Characterizing passenger-ship emissions: towards improved sustainability for MedMar fleet (gulf of Naples).

Promoting energetic and environmental sustainability in the naval sector requires a necessary understanding of the energy demand of vessels and of the factors affecting it. This article shows the results of a study conducted by the shipping company MedMar aimed at acquiring a detailed analysis of the energetic performances of its fleet. The study involved the analysis of fuel consumption and emissions of the fleet using a specific software and under different scenarios, assuming the navigation speed and the cargo level of the vessels as reference parameters. Simulations also provided a comparison, concerning emissions and externalities, between ships and two different means of transport. The purpose of this study was to identify potential areas of improvement, where ad hoc strategies could be used to further optimise the energetic and environmental performance of MedMar fleet and mitigate its impact on the delicate ecosystem of the gulf of Naples, where the fleet sails. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12053-022-10064-7.

Bioremoval of Yttrium (III), Cerium (III), Europium (III), and Terbium (III) from Single and Quaternary Aqueous Solutions Using the Extremophile Galdieria sulphuraria (Galdieriaceae, Rhodophyta).

The lanthanides are among the rare earth elements (REEs), which are indispensable constituents of modern technologies and are often challenging to acquire from natural resources. The demand for REEs is so high that there is a clear need to develop efficient and environmentally-friendly recycling methods. In the present study, living cells of the extremophile Galdieria sulphuraria were used to remove four REEs, Yttrium, Cerium, Europium, and Terbium, from single- and quaternary-metal aqueous solutions. Two different strains, SAG 107.79 and ACUF 427, were exposed to solutions buffered at pH 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5. Our data demonstrated that the removal performances were strain and pH dependent for all metal ions. At lower pH, ACUF 427 outperformed SAG 107.79 considerably. By increasing the pH of the solutions, there was a significant surge in the aqueous removal performance of both strains. The same trend was highlighted using quaternary-metal solutions, even if the quantities of metal removed were significantly lower. The present study provided the first insight into the comparative removal capacity of the Galdieria sulphuraria strains. The choice of the appropriate operational conditions such as the pH of the metal solutions is an essential step in developing efficient, rapid, and straightforward biological methods for recycling REEs.

Extremophilic Microalgae Galdieria Gen. for Urban Wastewater Treatment: Current State, the Case of "POWER" System, and Future Prospects.

Over the past decades, wastewater research has increasingly focused on the use of microalgae as a tool to remove contaminants, entrapping nutrients, and whose biomass could provide both material and energy resources. This review covers the advances in the emerging research on the use in wastewater sector of thermoacidophilic, low-lipid microalgae of the genus Galdieria, which exhibit high content of protein, reserve carbohydrates, and other potentially extractable high-value compounds. The natural tolerance of Galdieria for high toxic environments and hot climates recently made it a key player in a single-step process for municipal wastewater treatment, biomass cultivation and production of energetic compounds using hydrothermal liquefaction. In this system developed in New Mexico, Galdieria proved to be a highly performing organism, able to restore the composition of the effluent to the standards required by the current legislation for the discharge of treated wastewater. Future research efforts should focus on the implementation, in the context of wastewater treatment, of more energetically efficient cultivation systems, potentially capable of generating water with increasingly higher purity levels.

Cyanidiophyceae (Rhodophyta) Tolerance to Precious Metals: Metabolic Response to Palladium and Gold.

Polyextremophilic red algae, which belong to the class Cyanidiophyceae, are adapted to live in geothermal and volcanic sites. These sites often have very high concentrations of heavy and precious metals. In this study, we assessed the capacity of three strains of Galdieria (G. maxima, G. sulphuraria, and G. phlegrea) and one strain of Cyanidiumcaldarium to tolerate different concentrations of precious metals, such as palladium (Cl4K2Pd) and gold (AuCl4K) by monitoring algal growths in cultures exposed to metals, and we investigated the algae potential oxidative stress induced by the metals. This work provides further understanding of metals responses in the Cyanidiophyceae, as this taxonomic class is developed as a biological refinement tool.

Cultivation of the Acidophilic Microalgae Galdieria phlegrea with Wastewater: Process Yields.

Algal based wastewater treatment offers the opportunity to recover, in the form of biomass, the nutrients and internal chemical energy of wastewater. Recently, there has been a growing interest in the use of extremophilic microalgae, as they can easily adapt to difficult and often pollutant-rich environments. The thermo-acidophilic microalga Galdieria phlegrea is a species of recent discovery and great metabolic versatility, but it has still been poorly studied. Here, G. phlegrea was cultivated using raw municipal wastewater in 1 L Erlenmeyer flasks with 700 mL working volume at 37 °C for up to nine days. During the cultivation phase, biomass growth, phycocyanin content, ammonium and phosphate removal from the wastewater, lipid fraction, total carbon and nitrogen in the biomass, and variation in δ13C and δ15N isotopic ratios (a novel analytical contribution in these experiments) were monitored. Results indicated that G. phlegrea was able to grow in raw effluent, where it removed more than 50% ammonium and 20% phosphate in 24 h; total lipid content was in the range of 11-22%, while average C-N content was of 45% and 6%, respectively; isotopic analyses proved to be a useful support in identifying C and N metabolic pathways from effluent to biomass. Overall, G. phlegrea showed consistent performance with similar Cyanidiophyceae and is a potentially viable candidate for municipal wastewater valorization from a circular economy perspective.

Assessing energy performance and critical issues of a large wastewater treatment plant through full-scale data benchmarking.

The wastewater sector accounts for 25% of the global energy demand in the water sector. Since this consumption is expected to increase in the forthcoming years, energy optimization strategies are needed. A truly effective planning of energy improvement measures requires a detailed knowledge of a system, which can only be achieved through energy audit and real-time monitoring. In order to improve the identification of critical issues related to the use of energy resources within a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), the paper shows the results of a monitoring campaign performed on a large WWTP in southern Italy. Data obtained for the audit cover a 4-year timeframe (2014-2017). Energy-environmental performance has been evaluated through the benchmarking of: system variables, specific consumptions, and operational indicators. Moreover, by using a real-time data measurement and acquisition system it has been possible to evaluate the real performance of the most energy-intensive apparatus of the plant (a turbo-blower), over a period of 8 months. The main results indicate that (a) the plant is mainly affected by a massive capture of infiltrations, working in conditions close to the maximum hydraulic capacity, (b) real-time energy measurements are necessary to accurately characterize plant consumptions and adequately assess their critical aspects.