Enhanced hydrogen production from water hyacinth by a combination of ultrasonic-assisted alkaline pretreatment, dark fermentation, and microbial electrolysis cell.

In this study, hydrogen (H2) production from water hyacinth (WH) was enhanced by the integration of the ultrasonic-assisted alkaline (UAA) pretreatment, dark fermentation (DF), and microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). The results showed that UAA pretreatment improved around 350% in H2 production in the DF stage and nearly 400% in the whole process compared to un-pretreated. The H2 yield in the DF stage reached the maximum value of 110.4 mL/g-VS at a WH concentration of 20 g-TS/L. However, high concentrations of co-produced soluble metabolite products (SMPs) and suspended solid in DF effluent adversely affected the efficiency of the MEC stage. Consequently, a WH concentration of 5 g-TS/L was optimal for the UAA-DF-MEC process that achieved the highest H2 yield of 565.8 mL/g-VS. It suggests that other auxiliary processes (e.g., dilution, centrifugation, effective methanogen inhibition, etc.) need to be developed to further improve the H2 production from WH via the UAA-DF-MEC process.

Characterisation and antifungal activity of extracellular chitinase from a biocontrol fungus, Trichoderma asperellum PQ34.

Trichoderma species were known as biological control agents against phytopathogenic fungi because they produce a variety of chitinases. Chitinases are hydrolytic enzymes that break down glycosidic bonds in chitin, a major component of the cell walls of fungi. The present study shows that extracellular chitinase activity reached a maximum value of approximately 22 U/mL after 96 h of T. asperellum PQ34 strain culture. The optimal temperature and pH of enzyme are 40°C and 7, respectively, whereas the thermal and pH stability range from 25°C to 50°C and 4 to 10, respectively. Chitinase at 60 U/mL inhibited nearly completely in vitro growth of Colletotrichum sp. (about 95%) and Sclerotium rolfsii (about 97%). In peanut plants, 20 U/mL of chitinase significantly reduced the incidence of S. rolfsii infection compared to controls. The fungal infection incidence of seeds before germination and 30 days after germination was only 2.22% and 2.38%, while the control was 13.33% and 17.95%. Besides, chitinase from T. asperellum PQ34 can also prevent anthracnose that is caused by Colletotrichum sp. on both mango and chilli fruits up to 72 h after enzyme pre-treatment at 40 U/mL. In mango and chilli fruits infected with anthracnose, 40 U/mL dose of chitinase inhibited the growth of fungi after 96 h of treatment, the diameter of lesion was only 0.88 cm for mango and 1.45 cm for chilli, while the control was 1.67 cm and 2.85 cm, respectively.