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Byline: Zheng-Bo Yue, Han-Qing Yu The anaerobic batch digestion of cattail with two substrate concentrations of 10 g and 30 g Volatile Solids (VS)/l was investigated in this study. The hydrolysis of cattail was not significantly affected by the substrate concentrations, and it was able to be described by a first-order kinetic model with hydrolysis constants of 0.298 d−1 and 0.294 d−1, respectively. The main aqueous products from cattail degradation were Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA), in which acetate, propionate and butyrate were dominant. The molar ratio of acetate to propionate (3.3) at 10 g VS/l was larger than that (2.3) at 30 g VS/l, when the acidogenesis phase was at the stationary period. The lag period of the methanogenic phase at 10 g VS/l was shorter than that at 30 g VS/l. A modified Gompertz equation could be adopted to describe the kinetics of products formation.

Nitrate and Fe(III) are two terminal electron acceptors in anaerobic respiration by microorganisms growing in the anoxic soil or sediment environment. In the current paper a facultative anaerobic dissimilatory Fe(III)- and nitrate-reducing bacterium was isolated from the Linchong tailings, a skarn-type copper mine tailings, located in Anhui. Skarn often formed at the contact zone between intrusions of granitic magma bodies into contact with carbonate sedimentary rocks. This made the tailings possessed strong acid neutralizing capacity and pH of the pore water was 6.8–8.6. The isolate, which was designated strain CW (CCTCC AB 2013114), was a gram-negative rod bacterium and belonged to the gamma subgroup p of the proteobacteria, closely (99.0%) related toPseudomonas stutzeri. In defined medium, strain CW was shown to grow anaerobically with the acetate using the ferric iron or nitrate as the electron acceptors. Results also showed that strain CW could not grow in the presence of ferrous iron and nitrite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The anaerobic digestion of cattail by rumen cultures in the presence of Cu(II), Cd(II) or Cr(VI) was investigated in this study. Three cases were respectively observed for the different metal dosages: promoted cattail degradation and methane production at a low heavy metal concentration, e.g., Cu(II) 2.4mg/l, Cd(II) 1.6mg/l, Cr(VI) 4.0mg/l; reduced cattail degradation efficiency and methane production at a middle metal level; a severe inhibition to the cattail degradation at a high heavy metal dosage. The inhibition kinetics of Cu(II) on the digestion of cattail by rumen cultures was also analyzed and a simplified Andrews equation was used to describe such an inhibition. The inhibition constants for Cu(II) on the degradation of cattail, production of volatile fatty acids and formation of methane were estimated as 7.4, 9.5 and 6.4mg/l, respectively. Comparative experimental results suggest that the order of toxicity degree of the tested metals on the rumen cultures was: Cd(II)>Cu(II)>Cr(VI). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Sediment microorganisms are the main drivers of the material circulation and organic matter degradation processes in rural black and odorous water bodies(RBOWB), and the community structure of sediment microorganisms follows the changes in the external environment. Here, the pollutant indicators, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and heavy metals in the overlying water and sediment of 29 RBOWB in Dongming County of Heze City were measured, respectively. Combined with Illumina sequencing results, the composition and diversity characteristics of sediment bacterial communities in RBOWB and their correlation with environmental factors were further analyzed. The experimental results showed a wide distribution of pollutants in both of the overlying water and sediment in the RBOWB of this region. Compared with agricultural non-point source pollution, the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants in the overlying water with domestic sewage as the main source of pollution were 3.1 and 1.5 times higher than those of agricultural non-point source pollution, respectively. In addition, the contents of heavy metals in the sediments of RBOWB were generally lower than the soil element background value in Heze City. The dominant bacteria phyla in the sediments of the RBOWB were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria, and the total abundance of these five dominant phyla accounted for 70.3%-83.6% of all sequences. The dominant classes were γ -Proteobacteria, α -Proteobacteria, Anaerolineae, and Actinobacteria. The dominant genera were Thiobacillus and Pseudarthrobacter . Moreover, Spearman correlation analysis showed that the environmental factors of DO, COD, TN, TP, and organic matter exerted significant effects( P <0.05) on sediment bacterial genera in RBOWB, and sediment bacterial community richness was significantly influenced by TN( P <0.05). The above results provided the microbiological knowledge for treating RBOWB.

Nitrogen elements play an important role in the biogeochemical cycle of artificial wetlands. In this study, we investigated the anaerobic transformation of ammonia nitrogen and its main pathways in sediment in an artificial wetland. Results showed that the anaerobic ammonia oxidation (ANAMMOX) process and iron reduction occurred in wetland sediment, coupled with anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Feammox). Feammox used Fe(Ⅲ) to oxidize ammonia nitrogen to produce nitrogen; intermediate products were nitrate, nitrite, and N 2 O. Addition of ferrihydrite promoted the Feammox process and ammonia nitrogen loss caused by Feammox was enhanced from 1.69 to 2.72 mg·(kg·d) -1 . When ferrihydrite was added, a loss of 28% of total nitrogen (TN) in the wetland occurred, associated with Feammox, increasing to 42%. Anaerobic ammonia oxidation was significantly inhibited with addition of ferrihydrite and TN loss in the system decreased by about 25%. Results showed that the formation of goethite by mineralization of ferrihydrite inhibited the ANAMMOX process, promoting Feammox to lead to competing electronic donors for the S-ANAMMOX process, causing inhibition of the S-ANAMMOX process. This achieves the purpose of reducing TN loss in the wetland system. In addition, this may have some significance for further understanding the interaction between iron reduction and the nitrogen cycle in the wetland.

Effects of goethite on the anaerobic fermentation process of organic fraction of municipal solid wastes, including the biogas production and characteristics of leachate, were investigated in the anaerobic digesters constructed by PVC. The results showed that the addition of goethite promoted hydrolysis and acidogenesis efficiency of solid wastes and gas production rate. The total gas volume was 163.4 L,which increased by 20% compared to the blank. The intermediate products of Fe2+ , NH+4 -N, NO-3 -N, COD and organic acids in the leachate were analyzed. Results showed that the addition of goethite reduced the system ORP to - 124 mV which could improve the activity of the anaerobic microorganism. Addition of goethite could also promote the utilization of organic acids which decreased the inhibition effects of organic acids on the anaerobic microorganism.

In this study, two halophilic bacteria were isolated from activated sludge in the epoxy wastewater treatment system. The strains were identified, and the growth and degradation characteristics were investigated. Strain J1 and J2 was identified respectively by morphological observation and 16S rDNA sequence alignment analysis. It was found that both strains belong to the Bacillus genus (Bacillus sp.) and branch Bacillus (Virgibacillus sp.). The optimized growth condition of strain J1 and J2 in the high salt CM culture medium was as follows: solution temperature 30 degrees C, pH 7.0 and 5-50 g x L(-1) of NaCl. Furthermore, the best degradation condition of the organic epoxy wastewater was: temperature 30 degrees C, pH 7.0 and NaCl concentration 30 g x L(-1). When the volume ratio of bacterial suspension mixture of J1 and J2 was 2:1 and the inoculum size of the composite strains was 10%, the highest COD removal efficiency was achieved in the epoxy wastewater treatment.

The effects of natural goethite (NGt) and synthetic goethite (SGt) on the release of methane in the anaerobic biochemical system consisted of dissimilatory iron-reducing bacteria (DIRB) and methane-producing bacteria (MPB) were investigated through batch tests with sodium acetate as the carbon source. To explore the effects and mechanisms of both mineral materials on the release of methane in the anaerobic decomposition process of organic matter in the presence of DIRB, the main gas components and total organic carbon (TOC) , total inorganic carbon (TIC), and Fe2+ in the aqueous phase of the experimental process were determined and XRD analyses were conducted for the solid-phase product. Moreover, the minerals were analyzed by specific surface area (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Modified Gompertz equation was used to fit the cumulative methane and carbon dioxide. Results showed that the maximum cumulative production of methane was brought forward by 60-78 days by the addition of goethite and CO2 was effectively reduced by 30% - 67% compared with the control samples. SGt was more effective than NGt in promoting the release of CH4 and reducing the CO, emission. Furthermore, the analysis of the solid product showed that the addition of goethite can fix part of CO2 by the formation of siderite.

In this study, with rape straw as carbon source, anaerobic batch experiments were executed to investigate the effect of Zn (II) on the activity of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) in the microbial treatment of simulative acid mine drainage (AMD). The results showed that during the 60 experimental days, when initial Zn2+ concentrations were in the range of 73.7 to 196.8 mg x L(-1), SRB had high culturalbility. At the end of these experiments, pH values rose from initial 5.0 to neutral, about 96% of sulphate was reduced and the concentrations of Zn2+ reduced to 0.05 mg x L(-1). The results of Tessier sequential extraction, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD) showed that Zn was found to be fixed through forming organic and sulphide (mainly sphalerite) compounds. For the experiment with high Zn2+ concentration (262.97 mg x L(-1)), at the end of experiments, pH values dropped from initial 5.0 to 4.0, only 27% of sulphate was only reduced and the concentrations of Zn2+ kept in high range (25 mg x L(-1)), the activity of SRB significantly inhibited. This study indicated that: (1) Rape straw can be used as slow-release carbon source for long-term anaerobic AMD treatment; (2) Rape straw can decrease the toxicity of Zn2+ to SRB through adsorption; (3) In anaerobic AMD treatment system, Zn can be fixed by sulphide minerals with mediation of SRB.

The performance of three organic carbon sources was assessed in terms of sulfate reduction and main metal removal, by using sewage sludge as the source of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and adding rice straw and ethanol with equal quantity. Results indicated that sewage sludge which contained certain amount of alkaline material could neutralize acidity of acid mine drainage(AMD) on the first day of experiment, elevating pH value from the initial 2.5 to around 5.4-6.3 and achieving suitable pH condition for SRB growth. Sewage sludge contained fewer biodegradable organic substance, reactive mixture with single sewage sludge showed the lowest sulfate reduction (65.9%). When the single sewage sludge was supplemented with rice straw, SRB reducing sulfate was enhanced (79.2%), because the degradation rate of rice straw was accelerated by the specific bacteria in sewage sludge, providing relatively abundant carbon source for SRB. Control experiment with ethanol was most effective in promoting sulfate reduction (97.9%). Metal removal efficiency in all three reactors was as high as 99% for copper, early copper removal was mainly attributed to the adsorption capacity of sewage sludge prior to SRB acclimation. It is feasible for using rice straw and sewage sludge as carbon sources for SRB treating acid mine drainage at a low cost, this may have significant implication for in situ bioremediation of mine environment.

Anaerobic degradation of lignin in waste straw by ruminal microbes was directly observed using atomic force microscope (AFM). A series of high-resolution AFM images of the straw surface in the biodegradation show that the wax flakelets and lignin granules covering the straw surface were removed by the rumen microorganisms. Such degradation resulted in an exposure of cellulose fibers located inside the straw. The appearance of holes and microfibers in fermentation reveals that tunneling might be one of the ways for rumen microorganisms to attack the straw. Increases in the atomic ratio of oxygen to carbon (O/C) and the ratio C2/C3 in C1s spectra of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm that more cellulose was exposed on the surface after the anaerobic fermentation of straw. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analytical results demonstrate the decomposition of lignin by rumen microorganisms. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra and the measurement of degradation efficiency of the main straw components further verify these microscaled observations.