• Energy Research

AbstractThe unhairing step in leather manufacture generates a highly hazardous and alkaline wastewater. This article reports the evaluation of an activated sludge system for the treatment of unhairing wastewater and effluent detoxification, assessed by seed germination tests.The activated sludge system reactor was fed for 112 days with diluted unhairing effluent; the operation strategy included increasing the organic loading rate (OLR) from 0.7 to 1.6 g chemical oxygen demand (COD) L−1 d−1. COD and suspended solids (SS) removal efficiencies were up to 85 and 80%, respectively, for an OLR lower than 1.4 g COD L−1 d−1.Sulphide removal efficiency was ∼90%, as sulphide was oxidized to other species such as sulphate. The biological oxidation of thiosulphates into tetrathionates was also investigated.The effect of untreated and treated unhairing wastewater on seed germination of maize, sorghum, and wheat was examined. Treatment decreased the phytotoxicity of the wastewater. Indeed, germination was inhibited when effluent dilution was lower than 90% of untreated wastewater, whereas a positive effect of treated wastewater was noticed.Phytotoxicity assays showed that biological treatment of unhairing wastewater contributed to a decrease in toxicity of the effluent. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2011

The aim of this study was to assess the potential of newly isolated yeast strains Schwanniomyces etchellsii M2 and Candida pararugosa BM24 to produce yeast biomass on olive mill wastewater (OMW). Maximum biomass yield was obtained at 75% (v/v) OMW, after 96 h of incubation at 30 °C and 5% (v/v) inoculum size. The optimal carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio was in the range of 8:1 to 10:1, and ammonium chloride was selected as the most suitable nitrogen source. Under these conditions, a maximum biomass production of 15.11 and 21.68 g L(-1) was achieved for Schwanniomyces etchellsii M2 and Candida pararugosa BM24, respectively. Proteins were the major constituents of yeast cells (35.9-39.4% dry weight), lipids were 2.8-5% dry weight, and ash ranged from 4.8 to 9.5 % dry weight. Besides biomass production, yeast strains were also able to reduce toxicity and polluting parameter levels of the spent OMW-based medium. The practical results presented show that pH rose from initial value of 5.5 to 7.24-7.45 after fermentation. Approximately 23.1-41.4% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and 15.4-19.2% of the phenolic compounds were removed. The removal of phenolic compounds was associated with their biodegradation and their partial adsorption on yeast cells.

The present study focuses on the exploration of the potential use of potato peels waste (PPW) as feedstock for bioethanol production, using a newly isolated yeast strain, Wickerhamomyces anomalus, via different saccharification and fermentation schemes. The saccharification of PPW was performed via thermal and chemical (acid, alkali) pretreatment, as well as via enzymatic hydrolysis through the use of commercial enzymes (cellulase and amylase) or enzymes produced at lab scale (alpha-amylase from Bacillus sp. Gb67), either separately or in mixtures. The results indicated that the enzymatic treatment by commercial enzymes led to a higher saccharification efficiency (72.38%) and ethanol yield (0.49 g/gconsumed sugars) corresponding to 96% of the maximum theoretical. In addition, acid pretreatment was found to be beneficial for the process, leading also to high hydrolysis and ethanol yields, indicating that PPW is a very promising feedstock for bio-ethanol production by W. anomalus under different process schemes.

Diversity of the microbial consortia involved in biodegradation of unhairing wastewater from tanneries was assessed. Both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches were applied to identify bacteria in the activated sludge and endogenous biomass systems. Conventional culturing using dilution and planting techniques yielded eighteen pure bacterial isolates from endogenous biomass and activated sludge reactors. Isolates were identified using sequence analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA sequences. Most of these bacteria belonged to the genus Bacillus. Culture-independent molecular studies of bacterial diversity in both reactors, however, revealed a wide diversity of microorganisms, including members of the Proteobacteria group. Therefore, the alpha Proteobacteria group in the endogenous biomass was characterized by the genus Pseudochrobactrum, which was absent from the activated sludge biomass. The 77 and 88 bacterial clone sequences recovered from the activated sludge reactor and the endogenous biomass reactor, respectively, were grouped into 23 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs). The Proteobacteria division represented the predominant phylogenetic group within the clone library, encompassing 52.17% and 60.75% of the total OTUs obtained from the activated sludge and endogenous biomass tanks, respectively. The diversity in both tanks was also determined. The rarefaction curves and Shannon index indicated that bacterial populations were equally diverse in both reactors. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 401–410, 2015

The effect of different pretreatment approaches based on alkali (NaOH)/hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on willow sawdust (WS) biomass, in terms of delignification efficiency, structural changes of lignocellulose and subsequent fermentation toward ethanol, was investigated. Bioethanol production was carried out using the conventional yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as three non-conventional yeasts strains, i.e., Pichia stipitis, Pachysolen tannophilus, Wickerhamomyces anomalus X19, separately and in co-cultures. The experimental results showed that a two-stage pretreatment approach (NaOH (0.5% w/v) for 24 h and H2O2 (0.5% v/v) for 24 h) led to higher delignification (38.3 ± 0.1%) and saccharification efficiency (31.7 ± 0.3%) and higher ethanol concentration and yield. Monocultures of S. cerevisiae or W. anomalus X19 and co-cultures with P. stipitis exhibited ethanol yields in the range of 11.67 ± 0.21 to 13.81 ± 0.20 g/100 g total solids (TS). When WS was subjected to H2O2 (0.5% v/v) alone for 24 h, the lowest ethanol yields were observed for all yeast strains, due to the minor impact of this treatment on the main chemical and structural WS characteristics. In order to decide which is the best pretreatment approach, a detailed techno-economical assessment is needed, which will take into account the ethanol yields and the minimum processing cost.

Abstract The growth characteristics, lipid accumulation and composition during the life cycle of a newly isolated strain of Debaryomyces etchellsii were studied under nitrogen limiting conditions. This yeast, grown in batch flask or bioreactor cultures, reproduced asexually by buds when nitrogen was available in the growth medium, or sexually by ascospores after nitrogen exhaustion, producing more than 7 g L−1 biomass. During ascosporogenesis, an important increase in the cellular lipid content in dry cell mass occurred, i.e. from a mass fraction of 11.9% in the vegetative phase to 22.4%, in the ascosporogenic phase. During transition of D. etchellsii from batch to continuous cultures using dilution rates 0.026 and 0.019 h−1, a shift from sexual to asexual reproduction was observed. At 0.019 h−1, few pseudomycelia were also formed. The yeast synthesized lipids containing long chain fatty acids (mainly C16 and C18). Budded cells at steady-states contained only 8.6–9.3 % of lipids mass fraction per dry cell mass that were composed of oleic and linoleic acids and, to a lesser extent, of palmitic and palmitoleic acids. Neutral lipids were the major fraction represented 61.8–66.1%, of total lipids followed by phospholipids, which was the only fraction in which linoleic acid predominated over oleic acid.