Bioleaching of rare earth elements from ores and waste materials: Current status, economic viability and future prospects.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical components of numerous products widely used in many areas, and the demand for REEs is increasing dramatically in recent years. Physical-chemical leaching is commonly adopted for the recovery of REEs from ores and solid wastes, but concerns over the generation of hazards, operation safety, and environmental pollution have urged the transition to greener and more sustainable leaching methods. Bioleaching is considered an excellent alternative for the recovery of REEs.

Regulation of carbon metabolic fluxes to enhance lipid and succinate production in oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina.

Mortierella alpina is popular for lipid production, but the low carbon conversion rate and lipid yield are major obstacles for its economic performance. Here, external addition of organic acids involved in tricarboxylic acid cycle was used to tune carbon flux and improve lipid production. Citrate was determined to be the best organic acid that can be used for enhancing lipid production.

Integration of lactic acid biorefinery with treatment of red mud from alumina refinery: win-win paradigm for waste valorization.

The cost of detoxification and neutralization poses certain challenges to the development of an economically viable lactic acid biorefinery with lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock. Herein, red mud, an alkaline waste, was explored as both a detoxifying agent and a neutralizer. Red mud treatment of lignocellulosic hydrolysate effectively removed the inhibitors generated in dilute acid pretreatment, improving the lactic acid productivity from 1.

Olfactory perception of herbicide butachlor by GOBP2 elicits ecdysone biosynthesis and detoxification enzyme responsible for chlorpyrifos tolerance in Spodoptera litura.

Insecticide resistance is one of the major obstacles for controlling agricultural pests. There have been a lot of studies on insecticides stimulating the development of insect resistance. Herbicides account for the largest sector in the agrochemical market and are often co-applied with insecticides to control insect pests and weeds in the same cropland ecosystem.