Search

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles smaller than 5 mm. that have been widely detected in the environment, including in wastewater. They originate from various sources including breakdown of larger plastic debris, release of plastic fibres from textiles, and microbeads commonly used in personal care products. In wastewater, microplastics can pass through the treatment process and enter the environment, causing harm to biodiversity by potentially entering the food chain. Additionally, microplastics can act as a vector for harmful pollutants, increasing their transport and distribution in the environment. To address this issue, there is a growing need for effective wastewater treatment methods that can effectively remove microplastics. Currently, several physical and chemical methods are available, including filtration, sedimentation, and chemical degradation. However, these methods are costly, low efficiency and generate secondary pollutants. Furthermore, lack of standardization in the measurement and reporting of microplastics in wastewater, makes it difficult to accurately assess microplastic impact on the environment. In order to effectively manage these issues, further research and development of effective and efficient methods for removing microplastics from wastewater, as well as standardization in measurement and reporting, are necessary to effectively manage these detrimental contaminants., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hydrothermal treatment (HT) is an emerged thermochemical approach for the utilization of biomass. In the last decade, intense research has been conducted on bio-oil and hydrochar, during which extensive amount of hydrothermal treated wastewater (HTWW) is produced, containing large amount of organic compounds along with several toxic chemicals. The composition of HTWW is highly dependent on the process conditions and organic composition of biomass, which determines its further utilization. The current study provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in HTWW utilization and its properties which can be changed by varying different parameters like temperature, residence time, solid concentration, mass ratio and catalyst including types of biomasses. HTWW characterization, parameters, reaction mechanism and its application were also summarized. By considering the challenges of HTWW, some suggestions and proposed methodology to overcome the bottleneck are provided., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the current study, we analyzed the efficacy of manganese oxide nanoparticle (MnNP)-water dispersion as an immobilization matrix for bacterial tannase. The tannase-secreting Bacillus subtilis strain NJKL.tan.2 obtained from tannery effluent soil was subsequently purified and cloned in pET20b vector. The activity of MnNP-tan (tannase activated by manganese nanoparticles) was 1.51- and 3.5-fold higher at 20 °C and 80 °C, respectively, compared with the free enzyme. MnNP-tan decreased K m by 41.66 % and 3-fold, whereas free tannase showed two-fold and six-fold improvement in K cat at 37 °C and 80 °C, respectively. MnNP-tan showed an increase in (half-life)t 1/2 and E d by 13-fold and 50.05 units, respectively, at 80 °C, in contrast to the native enzyme. MnNP-tan retained its residual activity by 78.2 % at 37 °C and 34.24 % at 80 °C after 180 min of incubation when compared with untreated set. MnNP-tan retained 51 % of its activity after 120 days with the native enzyme losing ∼50 % functionality following 40 days of incubation. The MnNP-mediated tannase immobilization technique is being reported for the first time. The technique has numerous advantages due to the use of MnNP as a potential matrix for biomolecule immobilization, which can be further extended to immobilize other biocatalysts used in agro-industrial and lab-based applications., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)