Effect of cycling on final mixed culture fate

Cycling in feed substrate concentration and dilution rate is examined as a means of modifying the final fate of a mixed culture. It is shown for the case where the specific growth rate of one species is always greater than that of the second that no cycling strategy will provide the desired extinction of the faster growing species unless time delay is included in the modeling. To account for the time lag in adjusting organism metabolic activities to environmental changes, an adaptability parameter is introduced. Numerical simulations are carried out and an operating diagram indicating the conditions under which the desired extinction occurs is constructed. Cycling in feed substrate concentration and dilution rate are both found to produce the desired result.     

Effect of cycling on the stability of plasmid-bearing microorganisms in continuous culture

The implication of the possible existence of differences in the times required for plasmid-bearing and non-plasmid-bearing microorganisms to adjust their metabolic activities to step changes in their environment is examined. This adaptability difference suggests the possibility of maintaining an engineered strain in continuous culture by transient operation. It is shown for the case where adaptability is neglected that no cycling strategy will prevent the washout of the engineered strain, but the addition to the model of a time delay in substrate utilization can result in coexistence upon cycling. Numerical simulations of cycling in feed substrate concentration are carried out to illustrate the concept Operating diagrams are also constructed to indicate the conditions under which washout of the plasmid bearing strain can be prevented.     

Using cheese whey for hydrogen and methane generation in a two-stage continuous process with alternative pH controlling approaches

This study focuses on the exploitation of cheese whey as a source for hydrogen and methane, in a two-stage continuous process. Mesophilic fermentative hydrogen production from undiluted cheese whey was investigated at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 h. Alkalinity addition (NaHCO₃) or an automatic pH controller were used, to maintain the pH culture at a constant value of 5.2. The hydrogen production rate was 2.9 ± 0.2 L/Lreactor/d, while the yield of hydrogen produced was approximately 0.78 ± 0.05 mol H₂/mol glucose consumed, with alkalinity addition, while the respective values when using pH control were 1.9 ± 0.1 L/Lreactor/d and 0.61 ± 0.04 mol H₂/mol glucose consumed. The corresponding yields of hydrogen produced were 2.9 L of H₂/L cheese whey and 1.9 L of H₂/L cheese whey, respectively. The effluent from the hydrogenogenic reactor was further digested to biogas in a continuous mesophilic anaerobic bioreactor. The anaerobic digester was operated at an HRT of 20d and produced approximately 1 L CH₄/d, corresponding to a yield of 6.7 L CH₄/L of influent. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) elimination reached 95.3% demonstrating that cheese whey could be efficiently used for hydrogen and methane production, in a two-stage process.     

On the fate of LAS, NPEOs and DEHP in municipal sewage sludge during composting

The fate of hydrophobic xenobiotic pollutants such as linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS), nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEO) and di-ethyl-hexyl phthalate (DEHP) during sewage sludge composting was addressed in this work. The experiments were conducted in a fully automated in-vessel autothermal composting system which was fed with a mixture of primary and secondary sludge and manure. The mixture composition was determined to achieve satisfactory humidity, C/N ratio and free air space (FAS). The effect of various parameters, such as the initial xenobiotic concentration, the presence of multiple xenobiotic compounds and the temperature of composting material sustained during the process on the xenobiotics biodegradation kinetics was investigated. It was generally established that significant xenobiotic reduction is achievable through composting under all conditions tested. According to the obtained results, the presence of LAS, NPEO and DEHP even at higher concentrations was not inhibitory to the bioprocess. However, the presence of multiple xenobiotic compounds such as NPEO, NP and DEHP in the sludge can influence LAS removal during LAS composting.     

Use of spectral analysis to test hypotheses on the origin of pinnipeds

The evolutionary origin of the pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses) is still uncertain. Most authors support a hypothesis of a monophyletic origin of the pinnipeds from a caniform carnivore. A minority view suggests a diphyletic origin with true seals being related to the mustelids (otters and ferrets). The phylogenetic relationships of the walrus to other pinniped and carnivore families are also still particularly problematic. Here we examined the relative support for mono- and diphyletic hypotheses using DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial small subunit (12S) rRNA and cytochrome b genes. We first analyzed a small group of taxa representing the three pinniped families (Phocidae, Otariidae, and Odobenidae) and caniform carnivore families thought to be related to them. We inferred phylogenetic reconstructions from DNA sequence data using standard parsimony and neighbor-joining algorithms for phylogenetic inference as well as a new method called spectral analysis (Hendy and Penny) in which phylogenetic information is displayed independently of any selected tree. We identified and compensated for potential sources of error known to lead to selection of incorrect phylogenetic trees. These include sampling error, unequal evolutionary rates on lineages, unequal nucleotide composition among lineages, unequal rates of change at different sites, and inappropriate tree selection criteria. To correct for these errors, we performed additional transformations of the observed substitution patterns in the sequence data, applied more stringent structural constraints to the analyses, and included several additional taxa to help resolve long, unbranched lineages in the tree. We find that there is strong support for a monophyletic origin of the pinnipeds from within the caniform carnivores, close to the bear/raccoon/panda radiation. Evidence for a diphyletic origin was very weak and can be partially attributed to unequal nucleotide compositions among the taxa analyzed. Subsequently, there is slightly more evidence for grouping the walrus with the eared seals versus the true seals. A more conservative interpretation, however, is that the walrus is an early, but not the first, independent divergence from the common pinniped ancestor.      

Effect of wall growth on the kinetic modeling of nitrite oxidation in a CSTR

A simple kinetic model was developed for describing nitrite oxidation by autotrophic aerobic nitrifiers in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR), in which mixed (suspended and attached) growth conditions prevail. The CSTR system was operated under conditions of constant nitrite feed concentration and varying volumetric flow rates. Experimental data from steady-state conditions in the CSTR system and from batch experiments were used for the determination of the model's kinetic parameters. Model predictions were verified against experimental data obtained under transient operating conditions, when volumetric flow rate and nitrite feed concentration disturbances were imposed on the CSTR. The presented kinetic modeling procedure is quite simple and general and therefore can also be applied to other mixed growth biological systems.     

Hydrogen and methane production through two-stage mesophilic anaerobic digestion of olive pulp

The present study focused on the anaerobic biohydrogen production from olive pulp (two phase olive mill wastes, TPOMW) and the subsequent anaerobic treatment of the effluent for methane production under mesophilic conditions in a two-stage process. Biohydrogen production from water-diluted (1:4) olive pulp was investigated at hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 30 h, 14.5 h and 7.5 h while methane production from the effluent of hydrogenogenic reactor was studied at 20 d, 15 d, 10 d and 5 d HRT. In comparison with previous studies, it has been shown that the thermophilic hydrogen production process was more efficient than the mesophilic one in both hydrogen production rate and yield. The methanogenic reactor was successfully operated at 20, 15 and 10 days HRT while it failed when an HRT of 5 days was applied. Methane productivity reached the maximum value of 1.13 ± 0.08 L/L/d at 10 days HRT whereas the methane yield increased with the HRT. The Anaerobic Digestion Model no. 1 (ADM1) was applied to the obtained experimental data from the methanogenic reactor to simulate the digester response at all HRT tested. The ability of the model to predict the experimental results was evident even in the case of the process failure, thus implying that the ADM1 could be a valuable tool for process design even in the case of a complex feedstock. In general, the two-stage anaerobic digestion proved to be a stable, reliable and effective process for energy recovery and stabilization treatment of olive pulp.     

Evaluation of white-rot fungi for detoxification and decolorization of effluents from the green olive debittering process

Wastewater produced by the debittering process of green olives (GOW) is rich in polyphenolics and presents high chemical oxygen demand and alkalinity values. Eight white-rot fungi ( Abortiporus biennis, Dichomitus squalens, Inonotus hispidus, Irpex lacteus, Lentinus tigrinus, Panellus stipticus, Pleurotus ostreatus and Trametes hirsuta) were grown in GOW for 1 month and the reduction in total phenolics, the decolorization activity and the related enzyme activities were compared. Phenolics were efficiently reduced by P. ostreatus (52%) and A. biennis (55%), followed by P. stipticus (42%) and D. squalens (36%), but only P. ostreatus had high decolorization efficiency (49%). Laccase activity was the highest in all of the fungi, followed by manganese-independent peroxidase (MnIP). Substantial manganese peroxidase (MnP) activity was observed only in GOW treated with P. ostreatus and A. biennis, whereas lignin peroxidase (LiP) and veratryl alcohol oxidase (VAOx) activities were not detected. Early measurements of laccase activity were highly correlated ( r(2)=0.91) with the final reduction of total phenolics and could serve as an early indicator of the potential of white-rot fungi to efficiently reduce the amount of total phenolics in GOW. The presence of MnP was, however, required to achieve efficient decolorization. Phytotoxicity of GOW treated with a selected P. ostreatus strain did not decline despite large reductions of the phenolic content (76%). Similarly, in GOW treated with purified laccase from Polyporus pensitius, a reduction in total phenolics which exceeded 50% was achieved; however, it was not accompanied by a decline in phytotoxicity. These results are probably related to the formation of phenoxy radicals and quinonoids, which re-polymerize in the absence of VAOx but do not lead to polymer precipitation in the treated GOW.