Publications by authors named "Walter Martinez-Burgos"

Thraustochytrids are emerging as a valuable biomass source for high-quality omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), crucial for both human and animal nutrition. This research focuses on cultivating SR21 using cost-effective agro-industrial by-products, namely sugarcane molasses (SCM), corn steep liquor (CSL), and residual yeast cream (RYC), to optimize biomass and lipid production through a comprehensive multistep bioprocess. The study involved optimization experiments in shake flasks and stirred-tank bioreactors, where we evaluated biomass, lipid content, and DHA yields.

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Weeds cause significant agricultural losses worldwide, and herbicides have traditionally been the main solution to this problem. However, the extensive use of herbicides has led to multiple cases of weed resistance, which could generate an increase in the application concentration and consequently a higher persistence in the environment, hindering natural degradation processes. Consequently, more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as microbial bioherbicides, have been sought.

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Pesticides pose significant risks to both human health, such as cancer, neurological disorders, and endocrine disruption, and ecosystems, through the destruction of beneficial insects, contamination of soil and water, and impact on non-target species. In the face of escalating pesticide pollution, there is an urgent need for multifaceted approaches to address the issue. Bioremediation emerges as a potent tool in the environmental pollution mitigation arsenal.

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Meropenem is a potent carbapenem antibiotic frequently used in medical settings. Several studies have confirmed the pervasive presence of these antibiotics in wastewater treatment plants and aquatic environments. However, the effects of these substances on non-target organisms, such as plants, have not been adequately monitored.

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Microalgae-mediated industrial flue gas biofixation has been widely discussed as a clean alternative for greenhouse gas mitigation. Through photosynthetic processes, microalgae can fix carbon dioxide (CO) and other compounds and can also be exploited to obtain high value-added products in a circular economy. One of the major limitations of this bioprocess is the high concentrations of CO, sulfur oxides (SOx), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in flue gases, according to the origin of the fuel, that can inhibit photosynthesis and reduce the process efficiency.

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Unlabelled: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) for citric acid (CA) production and its impact on chemical oxygen demand (COD) of SSB. Five types of SSB were used as a carbon source for CA production by , and the COD of each SSB was measured before and after the bioprocess. Results showed that all tested SSB were suitable for CA production, with maximum yields ranging from 13.

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Due to their widespread occurrence and the inadequate removal efficiencies by conventional wastewater treatment plants, emerging contaminants (ECs) have recently become an issue of great concern. Current ongoing studies have focused on different physical, chemical, and biological methods as strategies to avoid exposing ecosystems to significant long-term risks. Among the different proposed technologies, the enzyme-based processes rise as green biocatalysts with higher efficiency yields and lower generation of toxic by-products.

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Soybean hulls are lignocellulosic residuesgeneratedinthe industrial processing of soybean, representing about 5 % of the mass of the whole bean. This by-product isan importantsource of polymers suchas cellulose(34 %) and hemicellulose (11 %),which could bevalorizedvia biotechnology to improvethe economic returnof the oilseed chain. In the present work,soybean hulls were evaluated as a carbon sourcefor biolipid productionbyLipomycesstarkeyi LPB 53.

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The generation of agroindustrial byproducts is rising fast worldwide. The slaughter of animals, the production of bioethanol, and the processing of oil palm, cassava, and milk are industrial activities that, in 2019, generated huge amounts of wastewaters, around 2448, 1650, 256, 85, and 0.143 billion liters, respectively.

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The use of effluents for hydrogen production through dark fermentation is promising because it results in the generation of value-added products and reduction of the effluent's organic load. A low-cost medium using agroindustrial effluents, corn steep liquor (CSL) and cassava processing wastewater (CPW) was evaluated for hydrogen production with microbial consortia (Vir and Gal). Four variables were evaluated for their impact on biohydrogen production through a Plackett Burman design.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Current waste reuse methods have low added value, and there is a need for the industry to adopt advanced green and circular technologies to mitigate environmental impacts while maintaining competitiveness.
  • * Key opportunities for improvement include anaerobic digestion of vinasse, CO fixation, and the use of genetically enhanced yeast, but further research is needed for many of these technologies to be fully effective.
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Palm oil mill effluent (POME) was tested as a substrate to produce hydrogen by dark fermentation. Two microbial consortia and a pure culture of Clostridium beijerinckii (ATCC 8260) were cultured anaerobically in raw, diluted and hydrolyzed POME to compare biohydrogen production yields in all three media. Experiments were done in 15 mL Hungate tubes containing 5 mL of medium and 1 mL of inoculum.

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Biohydrogen production was evaluated using cassava processing wastewater (CPW) and two microbial consortia (Vir and Gal) from different Brazilian environments. The biohydrogen production was optimized using a Box-Behnken design (T, pH, C/N, and % v/v inoculum). Maximum yields were obtained with hydrolyzed substrate: 4.

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The objective was evaluate the carotenogenic activity of isolated from the artificial salt flats of municipality of Manaure (Department of La Guajira, Colombia). Two experimental testings were designed, in triplicate, to induce the reversibility of the cell tonality depending on the culture conditions. In the first test (A), to induce the reversibility from green to red tonality in cells, these were cultured in J/1 medium at a concentration of 4.

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