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.     

Biodegradation of azo dyes by genetically engineered azoreductase

A azoreductase gene with 537 bp was obtained by PCR amplification from Rhodobacter sphaeroides ASI. 1737. The enzyme,with a molecular weight of 18.7 kD, was efficiently expressed in Escherichia coli and its biodegradation characteristics for azo dyes were investigated. Furthermore, the reaction kinetics and mechanism of azo dyes catalyzed by the genetically engineered azoreductase were studied in detail. The presence of a hydrazo-intermediate was identified, which provided a convincing evidence for the assumption that azo dyes were degraded via an incomplete reduction stage.     

高活性絮凝剂产生菌群的构建、培养及应用研究

从筛选到的絮凝剂产生菌中构建出能比单一菌群产生更高絮凝活性的复合菌群——复合菌群1（BAFRT4＋CYGS1）．为降低复合菌群1的培养成本,尝试用啤酒废水替代葡萄糖作为培养基中的碳源和能源并获得成功．在优化培养条件下,复合菌群1所产MBF的絮凝活性达96.8％．复合菌群1所产MBF对靛蓝印染废水有良好的处理效果,最大CODCr去除率和脱色率分别达79．2％和87．6％．     

含盐工业废水生化处理耐盐污泥驯化及其机制

通过比较在高盐和低盐条件下活性污泥驯化过程,研究了含盐工业废水生化处理耐盐污泥驯化的可行性、特点及其生物学过程.结果表明以盐份作为选择压力可以驯化出具有高降解活性的耐盐污泥,在NaCl浓度为45 000mg/L,容积负荷为1.6kgCODCr/(m³d)时,其COD_Cr去除率可达到96.6%.对耐盐污泥的驯化过程中的微生物优势生理群变化分析显示,随着进水盐浓度的增加,耐盐苯乙酸降解微生物生理群数量在15d时间内从10⁹cfu/(gVSS)上升到10¹¹cfu/(g.VSS),成为污泥中的优势生理群.     

高效水解酸化UASB活性污泥的菌群结构分析

采用454高通量测序技术对低能耗、低污泥产量且具有脱氮效能的印染废水处理工艺中UASB污泥的微生物菌群结构进行了分析.结果表明,UASB内污泥的微生物菌种呈多样性分布且优势菌群突出,通过菌群鉴定发现,脱硫橄榄样菌属(Desulfobacula)、Levilinea、长绳菌属(Longilinea)、Candidatus Tammella、Paludibacter、索氏菌属(Thauera)、Tepidimicrobium、杆状脱硫菌属(Desulforhabdus)、类芽孢杆菌属(Paenibacillus)、梭菌属(Clostridium)是主要的优势菌属.其中,梭菌属是起到产酸和污泥减量作用的主要菌种.另外,具有脱氮效能的原因可能是由于发生了硫酸盐型厌氧氨氧化作用.通过Shannon、Chao、Simpson、Shannon指数的计算,发现该UASB中微生物较其他废水处理系统,群落结构拥有较高的多样性和丰度,有利于稳定产酸.     

Heavy metal availability and impact on activity of soil microorganisms along a Cu/Zn contamination gradient

All the regulations that define a maximum concentration of metals in the receiving soil are based on total soil metal concentration. However, the potential toxicity of a heavy metal in the soil depends on its speciation and availability. We studied the effects of heavy metal speciation and availability on soil microorganism activities along a Cu/Zn contamination gradient. Microbial biomass and enzyme activity of soil contaminated with both Cu and Zn were investigated. The results showed that microbial biomass was negatively affected by the elevated metal levels. The microbial biomass-C （Cmic）/organic C （Corg） ratio was closely correlated to heavy metal stress. There were negative correlations between soil microbial biomass, phosphatase activity and NH4NO3 extractable heavy metals. The soil microorganism activity could be predicted using empirical models with the availability of Cu and Zn. We observed that 72% of the variation in phosphatase activity could be explained by the NH4NO3-extractable and total heavy metal concentration. By considering different monitoring approaches and different viewpoints, this set of methods applied in this study seemed sensitive to site differences and contributed to a better understanding of the effects of heavy metals on the size and activity of microorganisms in soils. The data presented demonstrate the relationship between heavy metals availability and heavy metal toxicity to soil microorganism along a contamination gradient.     

Transformations of particles, metal elements and natural organic matter in different water treatment processes

Characterizing natural organic matter （NOM）, particles and elements in different water treatment processes can give a useful information to optimize water treatment operations. In this article, transformations of particles, metal elements and NOM in a pilot-scale water treatment plant were investigated by laser light granularity system, particle counter, glass-fiber membrane filtration, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy, ultra filtration and resin absorbents fractionation. The results showed that particles, NOM and trihalomethane formation precursors were removed synergistically by sequential treatment of different processes. Preozonation markedly changed the polarity and molecular weight of NOM, and it could be conducive to the following coagulation process through destabilizing particles and colloids; mid-ozonation enhanced the subsequent granular activated carbon （GAC） filtration process by decreasing molecular weight of organic matters. Coagulation-flotation and GAC were more efficient in removing fixed suspended solids and larger particles; while sand-filtration was more efficient in removing volatile suspended solids and smaller particles. Flotation performed better than sedimentation in terms of particle and NOM removal. The type of coagulant could greatly affect the performance of coagulation-flotation. Pre-hydrolyzed composite coagulant （HPAC） was superior to FeCl3 concerning the removals of hydrophobic dissolved organic carbon and volatile suspended solids. The leakages of flocs from sand-filtration and microorganisms from GAC should be mitigated to ensure the reliability of the whole treatment system.     

低温菌去除污染物的研究现状

低温菌在自然界的分布非常广泛，低温菌由于具有特殊的遗传背景和代谢途径，能够产生适合低温环境且具有特殊功能的各种酶类及其它活性物，从而使低温菌在寒冷环境条件下表现出其他微生物无法替代的生物活性。文章在分析、总结国内外有关低温菌低温环境条件下去除污水中不同污染物的研究基础上，认为低温菌在寒冷地区污水治理领域具有广阔的应用前景。     

化学农药对土壤微生物的影响

农药的使用势必对土壤微生物产生影响，由于土壤中的微生物处在共生状态，而土壤中的很多物质分解是靠微生物来完成的，因此微生物受农药影响而发生的各种变化，都会对物质分解过程（如碳、氮循环），植物的生长发育，以及植物病理等产生影响。该文概述了农药对土壤微生物的６个方面影响，并提出了还需进一步研究的方向。     

Dissimilatory reduction of Fe~III (EDTA) with microorganisms in the system of nitric oxide removal from the flue gas by metal chelate absorption

IntroductionThecombustionoffossilfuelsgeneratesSO2 andNOxpollutantswhichcauseairpollutionandacidrain .Existingfluegasdesulfurization(FGD)scrubbersinvolvelimestoneprocesses,whichareefficientforcontrollingSO2 emission ,butareincapableofremovingalmostwater i…