Systematizing Microbial Bioplastic Production for Developing Sustainable Bioeconomy: Metabolic Nexus Modeling, Economic and Environmental Technologies Assessment.

The excessive usage of non-renewable resources to produce plastic commodities has incongruously influenced the environment's health. Especially in the times of COVID-19, the need for plastic-based health products has increased predominantly. Given the rise in global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, the lifecycle of plastic has been established to contribute to it significantly.

Model-based identification and testing of appropriate strategies to minimize NO emissions from biofilm deammonification.

Based on a one-year pilot plant operation of a two-step biofilm nitritation-anammox pilot plant, NO mitigation strategies were identified by applying a newly developed biofilm modeling approach. Due to adapted plant operation, the NO emission could be diminished by 75% (8.8% → 2.

Insightful Advancement and Opportunities for Microbial Bioplastic Production.

Impetuous urbanization and population growth are driving increased demand for plastics to formulate impeccable industrial and biomedical commodities. The everlasting nature and excruciating waste management of petroleum-based plastics have catered to numerous challenges for the environment. However, just implementing various end-of-life management techniques for assimilation and recycling plastics is not a comprehensive remedy; instead, the extensive reliance on finite resources needs to be reduced for sustainable production and plastic product utilization.

Modern Carbon-Based Materials for Adsorptive Removal of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants from Water and Wastewater.

Currently, a serious threat for living organisms and human life in particular, is water contamination with persistent organic and inorganic pollutants. To date, several techniques have been adopted to remove/treat organics and toxic contaminants. Adsorption is one of the most effective and economical methods for this purpose.

Model assisted identification of NO mitigation strategies for full-scale reject water treatment plants.

In a 3-year research project, a new approach to forecast biological NO formation and emission at high-strength reject water treatment has been developed (ASM3/1_N2O). It was calibrated by extensive batch-tests and finally evaluated by long-term measurement campaigns realized at three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with different process configurations for nitrogen removal of reject water. To enable a model application with common full-scale data, the nitritation-connected supplementary processes that are responsible for NO formation are not depicted in the model.

Modeling of Symbiotic Bacterial Biofilm Growth with an Example of the Streptococcus-Veillonella sp. System.

We present a multi-dimensional continuum mathematical model for modeling the growth of a symbiotic biofilm system. We take a dual-species namely, the Streptococcus-Veillonella sp. biofilm system as an example for numerical investigations.

Calcium carbonate deposits and microbial assemblages on microplastics in oligotrophic freshwaters.

Microplastics are solid polymer particles with a wide variety of surface properties, found in most waterbodies, and known as carriers of distinct microbial communities affecting the fate of the particles in the environment. Little is known about the formation of mineral deposits on microplastics and how these deposits connect to microbial assemblages and affect the physicochemical properties of the particles. In addition, most of the available research on this topic is based on large microplastics with sizes between 100 μm and up to 5 mm, rather than the small microplastics often found in drinking water sources.

Small Sample Stress: Probing Oxygen-Deprived Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria with Raman Spectroscopy In Vivo.

The stress response of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to oxygen deprivation limits AOB growth and leads to different nitrification pathways that cause the release of greenhouse gases. Measuring the stress response of AOB has proven to be a challenge due to the low growth rates of stressed AOB, making the sample volumes required to monitor the internal stress response of AOB prohibitive to repeated analysis. In a proof-of-concept study, confocal Raman microscopy with excitation resonant to the heme c moiety of cytochrome c was used to compare the cytochrome c content and activity of stressed and unstressed (Nm 50), (Nm 57), (Nsp 10), and sp.

Comparative study of polyhydroxyalkanoates production from acidified and anaerobically treated brewery wastewater using enriched mixed microbial culture.

The production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from wastewaters using microbial mixed cultures (MMC) has been attracting increased interest because of PHA's biodegradability characteristics. Production of PHA by an MMC enriched with PHA-accumulating bacteria was compared using anaerobically treated and acidified brewery wastewaters under various feeding strategies, namely pulse and batch feed addition. To obtain an enriched MMC, a sequencing batch reactor was inoculated with activated sludge fed with acetate and subjected to aerobic dynamic feeding.

Legionella occurrence in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants and risks of reclaimed wastewater reuse: Review.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as confirmed but until today underestimated sources of Legionella, playing an important role in local and community cases and outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease. In general, aerobic biological systems provide an optimum environment for the growth of Legionella due to high organic nitrogen and oxygen concentrations, ideal temperatures and the presence of protozoa. However, few studies have investigated the occurrence of Legionella in WWTPs, and many questions in regards to the interacting factors that promote the proliferation and persistence of Legionella in these treatment systems are still unanswered.

On-site treatment of flowback and produced water from shale gas hydraulic fracturing: A review and economic evaluation.

On-site flowback treatment systems are typically rated and selected based on three fundamental categories: satisfying customer needs (e.g. meeting effluent quality, capacity, delivery time and time required to reach stable and steady effluent quality), common features comparison (e.

Removal of inert COD and trace metals from stabilized landfill leachate by granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption.

Landfills in Germany are currently approaching stabilization phase; as a result removal of inert organics and potentially toxic elements in the leachate is becoming a primary concern. Dissolved air floatation (DAF) at the secondary stage reduces only 27% of the residual chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the investigated treatment systems; downstream granular activated carbon (GAC) units are required to further reduce COD concentration by 40-56% to meet indirect discharge or direct discharge limits respectively. Therefore, in this study performance in terms of COD and trace metals adsorption of different types of granular activated carbon were compared over different contact times and dosages.

Sinks and sources of anammox bacteria in a wastewater treatment plant - screening with qPCR.

The deammonification process, which includes nitritation and anammox bacteria, is an energy-efficient nitrogen removal process. Starting up an anammox process in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is still widely believed to require external seeding of anammox bacteria. To demonstrate the principle of a non-seeded anammox start-up, anammox bacteria in potential sources must be quantified.

High-rate anaerobic treatment of wastewater from soft drink industry: Methods, performance and experiences.

At an Austrian soft drink company, an expanded granular sludge bed reactor for anaerobic wastewater treatment was inoculated with sludge from paper and food industries. Detailed online monitoring and laboratory examinations were carried out during startup and subsequent phases, which included a period of inhibition after ca. 80 days during which reactor degradative performance diminished suddenly, following a period of increased effluent VFA.

Temperature-driven growth of Legionella in lab-scale activated sludge systems and interaction with protozoa.

The occurrence of Legionella pneumophila in activated sludge systems has been reported in the literature. However, the factors triggering its growth are not yet well understood. This knowledge is needed to develop strategies to minimize the risk of the spread of Legionnaires' disease that originates in these systems.

A control system for ultrasound devices utilized for inactivating E. coli in wastewater.

Sonochemical processes applied to wastewater treatment have an influence on the behavior of ultrasonic systems. This is especially due to the load characteristic of the sonochemical process itself and the temperature increase caused by internal damping within the converter. Hence, a controlling device is needed to guarantee the operation in resonance and to keep the vibration amplitude constant.

Municipal landfill leachate characteristics and feasibility of retrofitting existing treatment systems with deammonification - A full scale survey.

Leachate characteristics, applied technologies and energy demand for leachate treatment were investigated through survey in different states of Germany. Based on statistical analysis of leachate quality data from 2010 to 2015, almost half of the contaminants in raw leachate satisfy direct discharge limits. Decrease in leachate pollution index of current landfills is mainly related to reduction in concentrations of certain heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Hg) and organics (biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and adsorbable organic halogen (AOX)).

Uptake and biodegradation of the antimicrobial sulfadimidine by the species Tripolium pannonicum acting as biofilter and its further biodegradation by anaerobic digestion and concomitant biogas production.

This project analyses the uptake and biodegradation of the antimicrobial sulfadimidine (SDI) from the culture medium and up to the anaerobic digestion. Tripolium pannonicum was grown under hydroponic conditions with different concentrations of SDI (0, 5 and 10mg·L(-1)) and the fresh biomass, containing different amounts of SDI taken up, was used as substrate for biogas production. SDI was analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to positive ion electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI LC-MS).

Strategies for the reduction of Legionella in biological treatment systems.

A community-wide outbreak of Legionnaire's disease occurred in Warstein, Germany, in August 2013. The epidemic strain, Legionella pneumophila Serogruppe 1, was isolated from an industrial wastewater stream entering the municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Wartein, the WWTP itself, the river Wäster and air/water samples from an industrial cooling system 3 km downstream of the WWTP. The present study investigated the effect of physical-chemical disinfection methods on the reduction of the concentration of Legionella in the biological treatment and in the treated effluent entering the river Wäster.

Occurrence of Legionella in wastewater treatment plants linked to wastewater characteristics.

In recent years, the occurrence of Legionella in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) has often been reported. However, until now there is limited knowledge about the factors that promote Legionella's growth in such systems. The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical wastewater parameters that might be correlated to the concentration of Legionella spp.

Potential use of the facultative halophyte Chenopodium quinoa Willd. as substrate for biogas production cultivated with different concentrations of sodium chloride under hydroponic conditions.

This project analyses the biogas potential of the halophyte Chenopodium quinoa Willd. In a first approach C. quinoa was grown with different concentrations of NaCl (0, 10 and 20 ppt NaCl) and the crop residues were used as substrate for biogas production.

Virus elimination in activated sludge systems: from batch tests to mathematical modeling.

A virus tool based on Activated Sludge Model No. 3 for modeling virus elimination in activated sludge systems was developed and calibrated with the results from laboratory-scale batch tests and from measurements in a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The somatic coliphages were used as an indicator for human pathogenic enteric viruses.

Modified ADM1 for modelling an UASB reactor laboratory plant treating starch wastewater and synthetic substrate load tests.

A laboratory plant consisting of two UASB reactors was used for the treatment of industrial wastewater from the wheat starch industry. Several load tests were carried out with starch wastewater and the synthetic substrates glucose, acetate, cellulose, butyrate and propionate to observe the impact of changing loads on gas yield and effluent quality. The measurement data sets were used for calibration and validation of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No.

Nitrous oxide formation during nitritation and nitrification of high-strength wastewater.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the formation of nitrous oxide (N2O) in nitritation and nitrification under stable, comparable and not limiting conditions typical for treatment of high-strength wastewater. A laboratory-scale aerated chemostat was operated with reject water at different sludge retention times, achieving suppression of nitrate formation by wash-out of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria for nitritation. The N2O formation factor during stable nitritation was higher (2.

Effect of substrate availability on nitrous oxide production by deammonification processes under anoxic conditions.

Due to its high global warming potential, nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions from wastewater treatment processes have recently received a high degree of attention. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of information regarding the microbiological processes leading to N(2)O production. In this study, two lab-scale sequencing batch reactors were operated with deammonification biomass to investigate the role of denitrification and the influence of substrate availability regarding N(2)O formation during the anoxic phase of deammonification.