BETR-World: a geographically explicit model of chemical fate: application to transport of alpha-HCH to the Arctic

The Berkeley-Trent (BETR)-World model, a 25 compartment, geographically explicit fugacity-based model is described and applied to evaluate the transport of chemicals from temperate source regions to receptor regions (such as the Arctic). The model was parameterized using GIS and an array of digital data on weather, oceans, freshwater, vegetation and geo-political boundaries. This version of the BETR model framework includes modification of atmospheric degradation rates by seasonally variable hydroxyl radical concentrations and temperature. Degradation rates in all other compartments vary with seasonally changing temperature. Deposition to the deep ocean has been included as a loss mechanism. A case study was undertaken for alpha-HCH. Dynamic emission scenarios were estimated for each of the 25 regions. Predicted environmental concentrations showed good agreement with measured values for the northern regions in air, and fresh and oceanic water and with the results from a previous model of global chemical fate. Potential for long-range transport and deposition to the Arctic region was assessed using a Transfer Efficiency combined with estimated emissions. European regions and the Orient including China have a high potential to contribute alpha-HCH contamination in the Arctic due to high rates of emission in these regions despite low Transfer Efficiencies. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the performance and reliability of the model is strongly influenced by parameters controlling degradation rates.     

The effect of organic and hydraulic shock loads on the production of soluble microbial products in anaerobic digesters.

Anaerobic chemostats were used to investigate the effects of organic and hydraulic shock loads on the production of soluble microbial products (SMP). Production of SMP was found to increase during glucose spikes, reaching up 15% of the influent chemical oxygen demand. These SMP appear to be utilization-associated products produced as a result of the temporarily high organic load, and chemical analysis and ultrafiltration experiments revealed that most of these compounds are difficult to identify and that the majority of them are present in the low molecular weight (MW) range. Production of SMP also increased when the hydraulic retention time was reduced from 15 to 3 days, and an increase in DNA concentration in the bulk solution suggested enhanced cell lysis. Although the cause of lysis was not clear, it is believed that most of the SMP produced under such conditions were biomass-associated products following cell death. While the majority of these compounds lay in the low MW range, as much as 35% were found to have MWs greater than 1 kDa. During the period when the anaerobic chemostat was fed no alkalinity and the pH remained lower than 6.5 for more than a week, a slightly higher production of SMP and a shift in the MW distribution towards the production of higher MW SMP was observed.     

Bioproduction strategies for rare hexose sugars

A new strategy for the bioproduction of all ketohexoses was developed using hexitols as intermediates. Biocatalysts used to employ the strategy were D-tagatose 3-epimerase, which epimerizes ketohexoses at the C-3 position, and oxidoreductases, which catalyze oxidation-reduction reactions between ketohexoses and the corresponding hexitols. Arranging all the ketohexoses and hexitols in a symmetric ring and connecting them with 20 biochemical reactions, I was able to construct a design for the bioproduction of all the rare ketohexoses. Various aldose isomerases transform ketohexoses into the corresponding aldohexoses, so the strategy is useful for the bioproduction of all the rare hexose sugars. Furthermore, the design revealed that there are four routes to the L-hexose world from the D-hexose one.