Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons polluted soil by spent mushroom substrates: Microbiological structure and functionality.

Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) holds valuable microbiota that can be useful in remediating polluted soils with hydrocarbons. However, the microorganisms behind the bioremediation process remain uncertain. In this work, a bioremediation assay of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) polluted soil by SMS application was performed to elucidate the microorganisms and consortia involved in biodegradation by a metabarcoding analysis.

The role of biochar and green compost amendments in the adsorption, leaching, and degradation of sulfamethoxazole in basic soil.

The fate of the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole in amended soils remains unclear, moreover in basic soils. This work aimed to assess the adsorption, leaching, and biodegradation of sulfamethoxazole in unamended and biochar from holm oak pruning (BC)- and green compost from urban pruning (CG)-amended basic soil. Adsorption properties of the organic amendments and soil were determined by adsorption isotherms of sulfamethoxazole.

A novel and affordable bioaugmentation strategy with microbial extracts to accelerate the biodegradation of emerging contaminants in different media.

This study describes a new bioaugmentation alternative based on the application of aqueous aerated extracts from a biomixture acclimated with ibuprofen, diclofenac and triclosan. This bioaugmentation strategy was assayed in biopurification systems (BPS) and in contaminated aqueous solutions to accelerate the removal of these emerging contaminants. Sterilized extracts or extracts from the initial uncontaminated biomixture were used as controls.

The fate of erythromycin in soils and its effect on soil microbial community structure.

Erythromycin is one of the most commonly used macrolide antibiotics. However, little is known currently about the environmental behavior and fate of erythromycin in soils. Here erythromycin was C-labeled to investigate its degradation, mineralization and bound residues (BRs) in three typical agricultural soils.

New insights into the efficient removal of emerging contaminants by biochars and hydrochars derived from olive oil wastes.

The removal of emerging contaminants (ECs) for water source reclamation, minimizing energy and chemical use, is an environmental concern worldwide. In this study, we used the technologically cleaner pyrolysis and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) processes to convert olive oil production wastes into chars in order to simultaneously remove triclosan (TCS), ibuprofen (IBP) and diclofenac (DCF) from water. The chars prepared from olive stone (S), olive tree pruning (P) and pitted and reprocessed wet olive mill waste (H), as well as commercial biochars and a commercial active carbon (CAC), were characterized using different techniques and assayed as adsorbents.

A review of the impact of wastewater on the fate of pesticides in soils: Effect of some soil and solution properties.

Reuse of wastewater (WW) as an agricultural irrigation source is being considered with increasing interest, mainly in arid and semiarid zones. However, due to the complex nature of WW its reuse can have an impact on the fate of the pesticides added to the soils and crops for pest control. This review provides a detailed insight about the main processes involved in pesticide-soil-WW interactions (adsorption/desorption, degradation, transport, plant uptake and field assays) focusing on the role of dissolved organic matter and salt content in the mentioned processes.

Uptake and transformation of decabromodiphenyl ether in different rice cultivars: Evidence from a carbon-14 study.

The differences of PBDE absorption, accumulation, and metabolism in different cultivars of the same crop are rarely explored. This study used C tracing to fully demonstrate the uptake and transformation of soil-borne BDE209 in three rice cultivars, including two indica (HHZ and YD1) and one japonica cultivars (NJ3). Results showed that about 6.

Understanding the bioavailability of pyrethroids in the aquatic environment using chemical approaches.

Pyrethroids are a class of commonly used insecticides and are ubiquitous in the aquatic environment in various regions. Aquatic toxicity of pyrethroids was often overestimated when using conventional bulk chemical concentrations because of their strong hydrophobicity. Over the last two decades, bioavailability has been recognized and applied to refine the assessment of ecotoxicological effects of pyrethroids.

Inhibitory effects of dissolved organic matter on erythromycin bioavailability and possible mechanisms.

Macrolides are widely used antibiotics with ubiquitous occurrence in aquatic environments. Unlike many emerging contaminants, macrolides are positively charged on their amine groups and are likely to interact with negative charge groups of dissolved organic matters (DOMs), which may alter macrolide bioaccumulation but yet to be explored. Here we evaluated the effects of different DOM (LeHA, PPHA, SRHA and SRFA) on erythromycin (an important macrolide) bioaccumulation into aquatic biota with C tracing.

Degradation and metabolic profiling for benzene kresoxim-methyl using carbon-14 tracing.

Benzene kresoxim-methyl (BKM) is an effective strobilurin fungicide for controlling fungal pathogens but limited information is available on its degradation and metabolism. This study explored the degradation and metabolic profiling for BKM in soils by carbon-14 tracing and HPLC-TOF-MS analyzing. Results indicated that 88%-98% of C-BKM remained as parent or incomplete intermediates after 100 days.

Enhancing pesticide degradation using indigenous microorganisms isolated under high pesticide load in bioremediation systems with vermicomposts.

In biobed bioremediation systems (BBSs) with vermicomposts exposed to a high load of pesticides, 6 bacteria and 4 fungus strains were isolated, identified, and investigated to enhance the removal of pesticides. Three different mixtures of BBSs composed of vermicomposts made from greenhouse (GM), olive-mill (OM) and winery (WM) wastes were contaminated, inoculated, and incubated for one month (GMI, OMI and WMI). The inoculums maintenance was evaluated by DGGE and Q-PCR.

Application of isotope dilution method for measuring bioavailability of organic contaminants sorbed to dissolved organic matter (DOM).

Natural waters such as surface water and sediment porewater invariably contain dissolved organic matter (DOM). Association of strongly hydrophobic contaminants (HOCs) with DOM leads to decreased toxicity and bioavailability, but bioavailability of DOM-sorbed HOCs is difficult to measure. Current methods to estimate bioavailability of HOCs in water are based on only the freely dissolved concentration (Cfree).

Enhancing soil sorption capacity of an agricultural soil by addition of three different organic wastes.

This study evaluated the ability of three unmodified organic residues (composted sewage sludge, RO1; chicken manure, RO2; and a residue from olive oil production called 'orujillo', RO3) and a soil to sorb six pesticides (atrazine, lindane, alachlor, chlorpyrifos, chlorfenvinphos and endosulfan sulfate) and thereby explored the potential environmental value of these organic residues for mitigating pesticide pollution in agricultural production and removing contaminants from wastewater. Pesticide determination was carried out using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Adsorption data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption approaches.

A stable isotope dilution method for measuring bioavailability of organic contaminants.

Methods for determining bioavailability of organic contaminants suffer various operational limitations. We explored the use of stable isotope labeled references in developing an isotope dilution method (IDM) to measure the exchangeable pool (E) of pyrene and bifenthrin as an approximation of their bioavailability in sediments. The exchange of deuterated bifenthrin or pyrene with its native counterpart was completed within 48 h.

Using disposable solid-phase microextraction (SPME) to determine the freely dissolved concentration of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in sediments.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The ubiquity and persistence of PBDEs in sediment have raised concerns over their environmental fate and ecological risks. Due to strong affinity for sediment organic matter, environmental fate and bioavailability of PBDEs closely depend on their phase distribution.

Occurrence and toxicity of three classes of insecticides in water and sediment in two Southern California coastal watersheds.

The occurrence of chlorpyrifos, diazinon, pyrethroids, and fipronil was investigated in two watersheds along the southern California coast. Paired surface water and sediment samples were collected under dry and wet (after significant rain events) weather conditions. Insecticide concentrations in water and sediment were higher following rain events than during the dry season.

Improved measurements of partition coefficients for polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of widely used brominated flame retardants with strong hydrophobicity. Due to their strong affinity for organic matter, accurate measurement of adsorption coefficients for PBDEs using conventional batch methods can be confounded by biases caused by their sorption to dissolved organic carbon (DOC). In this study, sorption isotherms were constructed for BDE-47 and BDE-99 in sediments by using different methods to measure the aqueous phase concentration Cw.

Compost and vermicompost of olive cake to bioremediate triazines-contaminated soil.

The use of organic amendments to bioremediate potential organic pollutants of soil and water has become an increasingly relevant issue in the last years. This strategy has been applied to four triazine herbicides in a typical calcareous agricultural soil of the Mediterranean area. The soil was amended with olive cake, compost and vermicompost of olive cake at rates four times higher than the agronomic dose in order to stimulate biodegradation of simazine, terbuthylazine, cyanazine and prometryn, added in a mixture to the soils.

Organic amendments from olive cake as a strategy to modify the degradation of sulfonylurea herbicides in soil.

Amending soil with products rich in organic matter, such as raw olive cake or alperujo and its compost and vermicompost, could be a simple bioremediation strategy for soil pollutants such as pesticides. To investigate this hypothesis in relation to sulfonylurea herbicides, these amendments were applied to a Mediterranean agricultural soil at rates 4 times higher than agronomical dosage to stimulate biodegradation of chlorsulfuron, prosulfuron, and bensulfuron, added in a mixture to the soils. Degradation studies were conducted in microbially active and sterile soils to check the importance of biological and chemical degradation of sulfonylurea herbicides in nonamended and amended soil.

Assessment of olive cake as soil amendment for the controlled release of triazine herbicides.

Organic matter-rich agricultural by-products are being produced in huge quantities and can be applied to soil as a disposal strategy. The application of two different rates (2 and 8% w/w) of olive cake to a Mediterranean calcareous soil resulted in an increased sorption of four triazine herbicides, which was higher for the more hydrophobic compounds (terbuthylazine and prometryn) and lower for the more polar ones (simazine and cyanazine). However, when the sorption coefficients were normalised to the total soil organic carbon (K(oc)), the results did not significantly differ between simazine and cyanazine which is an indication that the olive cake did not exert different sorption capacity for both compounds.

Raw or incubated olive-mill wastes and its biotransformed products as agricultural soil amendments-effect on sorption-desorption of triazine herbicides.

Raw olive-mill waste and soil amendments obtained from their traditional composting or vermicomposting were added, at rates equivalent to 200 Mg ha-1, to a calcareous silty clay loam soil in a laboratory test, in order to improve its fertility and physicochemical characteristics. In particular, the effects on the sorption-desorption processes of four triazine herbicides have been examined. We found that comparatively hydrophobic herbicides terbuthylazine and prometryn increased their retention on amended soil whereas the more polar herbicides simazine and cyanazine were less affected.