New insights into different surfactants’ impacts on sludge fermentation: Focusing on the particular metabolic processes and microbial genetic traits

• The promoting effects for VFA generation follow the order of APG>SDBS>HTAB. • Surfactants improve the WAS solubilization/hydrolysis and acidification processes. • The VFA promotion is associated with surfactants’ distinctive characteristics. • Surfactants induce the enrichment of functional bacteria for VFA biosynthesis. • The vital genes for substrates delivery, metabolism, and VFA yields are upregulated. Surfactants were expected to exhibit positive effects on the waste activated sludge (WAS) disposal. However, the systematic comparison of different categories of surfactants on the WAS fermentation and the functional mechanisms, especially microbial metabolic traits, have not yet been precisely explored. This study revealed the positive effects of different surfactants on the volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, which followed the order of alkyl polysaccharides (APG)>sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS)>hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB). Mechanistic exploration found that the presence of different surfactants improved solubilization and hydrolysis steps, and then contributed to the subsequent acidification with different efficiencies. The functional microorganisms associated with VFA generation were enriched in surfactant-conditioned reactors. Metagenomic analysis further indicated that the key genes involved in the particular process of VFA generation were over-expressed. The simultaneous bioavailable substrate improvement, functional bacterial enrichment, and metabolic activity upregulation induced by different surfactants jointly contributed to VFA promotion during WAS fermentation. This study could provide a comprehensive realization of surfactants’ impacts on the WAS fermentation process, and more importantly, it reminded the public to discern the distinct interplaying effects induced by different chemicals in regulating the WAS disposal and resource recovery.     

Water-dispersible nano-pollutions reshape microbial metabolism in type-specific manners: A metabolic and bacteriological investigation in Escherichia coli

• Water-dispersible nano-pollutions exhibit type-specific toxic effects on E. coli. • Global metabolite profiling was used to characterize metabolic disruption patterns. • Key dysregulated metabolites responsive to nano-pollution exposures were found. • Amino acid metabolism and purine metabolism are perturbed at nano-pollutions. Incomplete separation and recycling of nanoparticles are causing undesirable nanopollution and thus raising great concerns with regard to nanosafety. Since microorganisms are important regulator of physiological processes in many organisms, the interaction between nanopollution and microbial metabolomics and the resultant impact on the host’s health are important but unclear. To investigate how typical nanopollution perturbs microbial growth and metabolism, Escherichia coli (E. coli) in vitro was treated with six water-dispersible nanomaterials (nanoplastic, nanosilver, nano-TiO₂, nano-ZnO, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), carbon dots (CDs)) at human-/environment-relevant concentration levels. The nanomaterials exhibited type-specific toxic effects on E. coli growth. Global metabolite profiling was used to characterize metabolic disruption patterns in the model microorganism exposed to different nanopollutants. The percentage of significant metabolites (p<0.05, VIP>1) accounted for 6%–38% of the total 293 identified metabolites in each of the nanomaterial-contaminated bacterial groups. Metabolic results also exhibited significant differences between different nanopollutants and dose levels, revealing type-specific and untypical concentration-dependent metabolic responses. Key metabolites responsive to nanopollution exposures were mainly involved in amino acid and purine metabolisms, where 5, 4, and 7 significant metabolic features were included in arginine and proline metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, and purine metabolism, respectively. In conclusion, this study horizontally compared and demonstrated how typical nanopollution perturbs microbial growth and metabolomics in a type-specific manner, which broadens our understanding of the ecotoxicity of nanopollutants on microorganisms.     

Occurrence,distribution, sources,and bioaccumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in multi environmental media in estuaries and the coast of the Beibu Gulf,China: a health risk assessment through seafood consumption

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The coastal zone is a crucial transitional area between land and ocean, which is facing enormous pressure due to global climate change and...     

Alkyl polyglycosides enhanced the dark fermentation of excess sludge and plant waste to produce hydrogen: performance and mechanism

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Alkyl polyglycosides (APG), a biodegradable biosurfactant, have been widely used in environmental pollution control. However, the application of APG...     

Screening and application of Chlorella strains on biosequestration of the power plant exhaust gas evolutions of biomass growth and accumulation of toxic agents

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To use microalgae for the biosequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from the coal-fired power plants, the screening of high CO2 tolerant...     

Investigation of indole biodegradation by Cupriavidus sp. strain IDO with emphases on downstream biotransformation and indigo production

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Indole, as a typical N-heterocyclic aromatic pollutant, poses risks to living things; however, indole-biotransformation mechanisms remain...     

Use of an ultraviolet light-activated persulfate process to degrade humic substances: effects of wavelength and persulfate dose

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Natural organic matter (NOM), commonly found in surface and ground waters, form disinfection by-products in drinking water. Generally, advanced...     

Vitamin D mediates the association between acrylamide hemoglobin biomarkers and obesity

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Mediation analysis aims to discover the role of intermediate variables from exposure to disease. The current study was performed to evaluate how...     

Research on the evolution characteristics of future climate change in West Liao River Basin

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In order to explore the characteristics of climate change in the future in the West Liao River Basin under the background of future climate change,...     

Comprehensive evaluation of land reclamation schemes in mining areas based on linguistic intuitionistic fuzzy group decision-making

Schemes to protect the geological environment and reclaim land are core requirements for an application for mining rights and complying with mining regulations. Mining enterprises must be supervised to ensure they fulfill their obligations. To guide oversight of such schemes and to provide references for their compilation and review, this study evaluates land reclamation schemes in mining areas using a multi-attribute group decision-making method. First, linguistic intuitionistic fuzzy numbers are used to describe the evaluation information. Considering the authority and preferences of experts, methods for determining expert weights in four cases are established. Max–min deviation then determines the attribute weights, and a method for linguistic intuitionistic fuzzy group decision-making is proposed. Finally, the practicability of this method is verified through a comparative analysis of land reclamation schemes for four mining areas in Sichuan Province, China. The results show the proposed method to give simple and effective evaluation, making it reasonably applicable to the compilation and review of land reclamation schemes.