Publications by authors named "Maria J Estrella-Gonzalez"

The accumulation of plastic in ecosystems is one of the most critical environmental concerns today. Plastic biodegradation using individual microbial cultures has shown limited success, which can be improved by employing microbial consortia with appropriate enzymatic capabilities. This study aims to assemble and characterize microbial consortia using ligninolytic fungi and bacteria isolated from an agricultural waste composting process, with the goal of enhancing the efficiency of plastic biodegradation.

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Microorganisms from L. terrestris gut previously exposed to different types of plastic (PET, LDPE, LLDPE, and PS) were studied to be used as probiotics of earthworms in plastic-contaminated soils (LDPE, LLDPE and recycled mulching film) at mesocosm-scale trials. The most abundant morphotypes with enzymatic capacities of interest were identified.

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The increase in the production of highly recalcitrant plastic materials, and their accumulation in ecosystems, generates the need to investigate new sustainable strategies to reduce this type of pollution. Based on recent works, the use of microbial consortia could contribute to improving plastic biodegradation performance. This work deals with the selection and characterization of plastic-degrading microbial consortia using a sequential and induced enrichment technique from artificially contaminated microcosms.

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Wastewater treatment generates a huge amount of sewage sludge, which is a source of environmental pollution. Among the alternatives for the management of this waste, industrial composting stands out as one of the most relevant. The objective of this study was to analyze the bacterial population linked to this process and to determine its effectiveness for the reduction, and even elimination, of microorganisms and pathogens present in these organic wastes.

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Composting involves the selection of a microbiota capable of resisting the high temperatures generated during the process and degrading the lignocellulose. A deep understanding of the thermophilic microbial community involved in such biotransformation is valuable to improve composting efficiency and to provide thermostable biomass-degrading enzymes for biorefinery. This study investigated the lignocellulose-degrading thermophilic microbial culturome at all the stages of plant waste composting, focusing on the dynamics, enzymes, and thermotolerance of each member of such a community.

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The agri-food waste (AW) require amendments for composting to adjust nutritional and physicochemical deficiencies. The theoretical mixtures formulation is difficult to reach on an industrial scale. The main objective of this work was to evaluate to what extent the composition of AW-based mixtures determines the quality of the final compost produced at the industrial scale.

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Biological transformation of municipal solid waste is an environment-friendly management strategy against recalcitrant residues. The bacterial biome that inhabit said residues are responsible of decomposing both simple and complex materials. For this reason, processes such as composting, which favor the acceleration of the transformation of organic matter, can contribute to the degradation of municipal solid waste.

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