Phanerochaete chrysosporium hyphae bio-crack, endocytose and metabolize plastic films.

Numerous studies have focused on the effect and mechanism of plastic degradation; due to their high persistence, petroleum-based plastics are difficult for microbes to mineralize. Although such plastics have been demonstrated to be mineralized by white rot fungus, the reactions at the molecular level remain unknown. Here, we show the whole mineralization model of polyethylene film, that can be summarized as follows: 1) white rot fungus colonizes on polyethylene film, using additives as dissimilated carbon sources; 2) the fungus secretes extracellular enzymes protein, combining with stearic acid as electron donor, causes oxidation and cracking of polyethylene film; and 3) partial dissociated sub-microplastic debris access to cells, further oxidizes in sequential actions of intracellular enzymes, and ultimately mineralize via β-oxidation.

Electricity production and nutrient recovery from waste activated sludge via microbial fuel cell and subsequent struvite crystallization: Effect of low temperature thermo-alkaline pretreatment.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) and subsequent struvite crystallization are available low-carbon environmental- friendly techniques for resource utilization of waste activated sludge (WAS). In this study, low temperature thermo-alkaline pretreatment (LTTAP) was innovatively proposed for enhancing MFC electricity generation and subsequent struvite crystallization from WAS. The results indicated that LTTAP at 75 °C and pH 10 not only substantially shortened the start-up time of MFC to 3-4 days, but also significantly increased maximum power density to 5.