Use of a marine microbial community as inoculum for biomethane production.

Marine substrates are prominent candidates for the production of biofuels, especially for biogas, which is a well-established technology that accepts different types of substrates for its production. However, the use of marine substrates in bioreactors may cause inhibition of methanogenic bacteria due to the addition of seasalts. Here, we explore a simple and economically viable way to circumvent the problem of inoculum inhibition. Based on the current knowledge of the diversity of microorganisms in marine sediments, we tested the direct use of methanogenic bacteria from an anoxic marine environment as inoculum for biomethane production. Both marine and freshwater substrates were added to this inoculum. No pretreatment (that may have enhanced methane production, but would have made the process more expensive) was applied either to the inoculum or to the substrates. For comparison, the same substrates were added to a standard inoculum (cow manure). Both the marine inoculum and cow manure produced methane by anaerobic digestion of the substrates added. The highest methane production (0.299 m(3) kg VS(-1)) was obtained by adding marine microalgae biomass (Chlorella sp. and Synechococcus sp.) to the marine inoculum. No inhibitory effects were observed due to differences in salinity between the inocula and substrates. Our results indicate the potential of using both marine inoculum and substrates for methane production.

Environmental and Sanitary Conditions of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro.

Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in the coast of Brazil, with an area of 384 km(2). In its surroundings live circa 16 million inhabitants, out of which 6 million live in Rio de Janeiro city, one of the largest cities of the country, and the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. Anthropogenic interference in Guanabara Bay area started early in the XVI century, but environmental impacts escalated from 1930, when this region underwent an industrialization process. Herein we present an overview of the current environmental and sanitary conditions of Guanabara Bay, a consequence of all these decades of impacts. We will focus on microbial communities, how they may affect higher trophic levels of the aquatic community and also human health. The anthropogenic impacts in the bay are flagged by heavy eutrophication and by the emergence of pathogenic microorganisms that are either carried by domestic and/or hospital waste (e.g., virus, KPC-producing bacteria, and fecal coliforms), or that proliferate in such conditions (e.g., vibrios). Antibiotic resistance genes are commonly found in metagenomes of Guanabara Bay planktonic microorganisms. Furthermore, eutrophication results in recurrent algal blooms, with signs of a shift toward flagellated, mixotrophic groups, including several potentially harmful species. A recent large-scale fish kill episode, and a long trend decrease in fish stocks also reflects the bay's degraded water quality. Although pollution of Guanabara Bay is not a recent problem, the hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games propelled the government to launch a series of plans to restore the bay's water quality. If all plans are fully implemented, the restoration of Guanabara Bay and its shores may be one of the best legacies of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.