Kinetics of inorganic carbon utilization by microalgal biofilm in a flat plate photoreactor

A kinetic model was developed to describe inorganic carbon utilization by microalgae biofilm in a flat plate photoreactor. The model incorporates the fundamental mechanisms of diffusive mass transport and biological reaction of inorganic carbon by microalgal biofilm. An advanced numerical technique, the orthogonal collocation method and Gear's method, was employed to solve this kinetic model. The model solutions included the concentration profiles of inorganic carbon in the microalgal biofilm, the growths of suspended microalgae and microalgal biofilm, the effluent concentrations of inorganic carbon, and the flux of inorganic carbon from bulk liquid into biofilm. The batch kinetic test was independently conducted to determine biokinetic parameters used in the microalgal biofilm model simulation while initial thickness of microalgal biofilm were assumed. A laboratory-scale flat plate photoreactor with a high recycle flow rate was setup and conducted to verify the model. The volume of photoreactor is 60 l which yields a hydraulic retention time of 1.67 days. The model-generated inorganic carbon and the suspended microalgae concentration curves agreed well with those obtained in the laboratory-scale test. The fixation efficiencies of HCO(3)(-) and CO(2) are 98.5% and 90% at a steady-state condition, respectively. The concentration of suspended microalgal cell reached up to 12 mg/l at a maximum growth rate while the thickness of microalgal biofilm was estimated to be 104 microm at a steady-state condition. The approaches of experiments and model simulation presented in this study could be employed for the design of a flat plate photoreactor to treat CO(2) by microalgal biofilm in a fossil-fuel power plant.     

Oxygen deficit determinations for a major river in eastern Hong Kong, China

Determination of oxygen deficit in the Hong Kong Shing-Mun River was based on the oxygen uptake by water, algal respiration and river sediment and the oxygen supplied to the river by surface reaeration and algal photosynthesis. A systematic study was conducted to examine the effect of water temperature, flow velocity and water depth on both the oxygen demands and the oxygen supplies. The oxygen budget of a water column in a selected section of the river was modeled. The results of the oxygen budget analysis showed that when water temperature was around 10 degrees C (the lowest temperature in the river), no deficit was observed. When water temperature was 10 degrees C to 20 degrees C, a small oxygen deficit appeared, especially in the deeper water. At the highest water temperature (30 degrees C), the oxygen deficit was maximal, -6.84 g O2/m2/day, in the night-time during the Spring tide period.     

Evaluation of Dynamically Dimensioned Search Algorithm for Optimizing SWAT by Altering Sampling Distributions and Searching Range

The primary advantage of Dynamically Dimensioned Search (DDS) algorithm is that it outperforms other optimization techniques in both convergence speed and searching ability for parameter sets that satisfy statistical guidelines while requiring only one algorithm parameter (perturbation factor) in the optimization process. Conventionally, a default value of 0.2 is used as the perturbation factor, where a normal distribution is applied with mean sampling distribution of zero and variance of one. However, the perturbation factor sensitivity to the performance of DDS for watershed modeling is still unknown. The fixed‐form sampling distribution may result in finding parameters at the local scale rather than global in the sampling space. In this study, the efficiency of DDS was evaluated by altering the perturbation factor (from 0.05 to 1.00) and the selection of sampling distribution (normal and uniform) on hydrologic and water quality predictions in a lowland agricultural watershed in Texas, United States. Results show that the use of altered perturbation factor may cause variations in convergence speed or the ability to find better solutions. In addition, DDS results were found to be very sensitive to sampling distribution selections, where DDS‐N (normal distribution) outperformed DDS‐U (uniform distribution) in all case scenarios. The choice of sampling distributions could be the potential major factor to be attributed for the performance of auto‐calibration techniques for watershed simulation models.     

Feasibility study on cross-linked biopolymeric concrete encapsulating selenium glass wastes

Feasibility study was conducted to encapsulate the selenium (Se) contained in glass waste, using the biopolymer-modified concrete. Biopolymer has unique characteristics to provide the chemical sites to metals or toxic compounds through the three-dimensional cross-linked structure. Very minute amount of biopolymer enhanced the characteristics of cementitious material. The resulting biopolymeric composite with selenium glass waste showed 20% higher compressive strength than ordinary concrete and the lower leaching concentration than the equipment detection limit. For a qualitative measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD; X-ray powder diffractogram) was used to characterize the biopolymeric concrete. The optimum waste content percentage with appropriate biopolymer concrete mixture ratio was identified for its possible commercial use.     

Effects of fungicides triadimefon and propiconazole on soil bacterial communities

The impact of fungicides triadimefon and propiconazole on soil bacterial populations from a strawberry field was investigated. Two fungicides were applied to the soil at concentrations of 10 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg with soil water contents 20.2% (fresh soil water content) or 26.0% (field capacity). Changes in bacterial communities were assessed using DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the 16S rDNA and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was utilized to detect the residue of fungicides in soils. The results showed that propiconazole was more persistent than triadimefon in soils, and the two soil water contents did not cause significant differences in dissipation rates between the two fungicides. A high concentration of propiconazole could inhibit the existence of soil microbes while one of triadimefon might induce the microbial population in the first stage. From unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA) dendrograms, the effect of triadimefon and propiconazole at the two applied concentrations on a soil bacterial community could be long term. After triadimefon was applied for 60 days and propiconazole for 75 days, the compositions of microbial communities were not recovered. From the viewpoint of environmental protection, it was of significant importance to pay more attention not only to the residues of pesticide but also to the change in soil microbial communities.     

Phylogenetic changes in soil microbial and diazotrophic diversity with application of butachlor

We investigated changes in population and taxonomic distribution of cultivable bacteria and diazotrophs with butachlor application in rice paddy soils. Population changes were measured by the traditional plate-count method, and taxonomic distribution was studied by 16S rDNA sequencing, then maximum parsimony phylogenic analysis with bootstrapping (1,000 replications). The bacterial population was higher after 39 than 7 days of rice cultivation, which indicated the augmentation of soil microbes by rice root exudates. The application of butachlor increased the diazotrophic population in both upper (0–3 cm) and lower (3–15 cm) layers of soils. Especially at day 39, the population of diazotrophs was 1.8 and 1.6 times that of the control in upper and lower layer soils, respectively. We found several bacterial strains only with butachlor application; examples are strains closest to Bacillus arsenicus, B. marisflavi, B. luciferensis, B. pumilus, and Pseudomonas alvei. Among diazotrophs, three strains closely related to Streptomyces sp. or Rhrizobium sp. were found only with butachlor application. The population of cultivable bacteria and the species composition were both changed with butachlor application, which explains in part the contribution of butachlor to augmenting soil nitrogen-fixing ability.     

Formulas of components of citronella oil against mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti)

The mosquito Aedes aegypti is an epidemic vector of several diseases such as dengue fever and yellow fever. Several pesticides are used to control the mosquito population. Because of their frequent use, some mosquitoes have developed resistance. In this study, we used the Y-tube olfactometer to test essential oils of Cymbopogon species and screened specific formulas of components as repellents against Ae. aegypti. At 400 μL, the extracted oil of citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus) and myrcene produced a low-active response by inhibiting mosquito host-seeking activity. Citronella grass, lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus), citral and myrcene also produced a low-treatment response to repellents, for more potential to affect host-seeking behavior. Furthermore, the mixture of citral, myrcene, and citronellal oil (C:M:Ci = 6:4:1) greatly affected and inhibited host-seeking behavior (76% active response; 26% treatment response with 40 μL; 42.5%, 18% with 400 μL; and 19%, 23% with 1000 μL). As compared with the result for N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (DEET; 44%, 22% with 400 μL), adjusting the composition formulas of citronella oil had a synergistic effect, for more effective repellent against Ae. aegypti.