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To prepare biological activated carbon (BAC), raw surface water was circulated through granular activated carbon (GAC) beds. Biological activity of carbon filters was initiated after about 6 months of filter operation and was confirmed by two methods: measurement of the amount of biomass attached to the carbon and by the fluorescein diacetate (FDA) test. The effect of carbon pre-washing on WG-12 carbon properties was also studied. For this purpose, the nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77K and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectra analyses were performed. Moreover, iodine number, decolorizing power and adsorption properties of carbon in relation to phenol were studied. Analysis of the results revealed that after WG-12 carbon pre-washing its BET surface increased a little, the pH value of the carbon water extract decreased from 11.0 to 9.4, decolorizing power remained at the same level, and the iodine number and phenol adsorption rate increased. In preliminary studies of the ozonation-biofiltration process, a model phenol solution with concentration of approximately 10mg/l was applied. During the ozonation process a dose of 1.64 mg O(3)/mg TOC (total organic carbon) was employed and the contact time was 5 min. Four empty bed contact times (EBCTs) in the range of 2.4-24.0 min were used in the biofiltration experiment. The effectiveness of purification was measured by the following parameters: chemical oxygen demand (COD(Mn)), TOC, phenol concentration and UV(254)-absorbance. The parameters were found to decrease with EBCT.

An electromagnetic field (EMF) has been shown to have various stimulatory or inhibitory effects on microorganisms. Over the years, growing interest in this topic led to numerous discoveries suggesting the potential applicability of EMF in biotechnological processes. Among these observations are stimulative effects of this physical influence resulting in intensified biomass production, modification of metabolic activity, or pigments secretion. In this review, we present the current state of the art and underline the main findings of the application of EMF in bioprocessing and their practical meaning in process engineering using examples selected from studies on bacteria, archaea, microscopic fungi and yeasts, viruses, and microalgae. All biological data are presented concerning the classification of EMF. Furthermore, we aimed to highlight missing parts of contemporary knowledge and indicate weak spots in the approaches found in the literature.

The pandemic period has made remote work a reality in many organizations. Despite the possible negative aspects of this form of work, many employers and employees appreciate its flexibility and effectiveness. Therefore, employers are looking for the most optimal tools to support this form of work. However, this may be difficult due to their complexity, different functionality, or different conditions of the company’s operations. Decisions on the choice of a given solution are usually made in a group of decision makers. Often their subjective assessments differ from each other, making it even more difficult to make a decision. The aim of this article is to propose a methodological solution supporting the assessment of the most popular teleconferencing systems and generating their ranking. The feature of this solutions is the combination of two important methodological aspects facilitating the selection process. The first one concerns the possibility of taking into account quantitative and qualitative criteria expressed linguistically and of an uncertain nature in the assessment (NEAT F-PROMETHEE method). The second one is related to the possibility of taking into account the assessments of many experts, including the consensus study between them (PROSA GDSS method). The use of these combined methods to assess teleconferencing platforms made it possible to create their ranking and indicate the solution that best meets the adopted criteria (based on experts’ opinions). The Microsoft Teams system turned out to be this solution, whose functionality, usability, multi-platform aspect and other elements turned out to be crucial in the context of the overall assessment. The results obtained may be a guideline for managers and decision makers facing the choice of a tool supporting remote work.

Summary In this article, we seek to analyze the regional energy policy in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, with a particular focus on the potential for developing renewable energy from biomass. The article aims to build a mathematical model of the regional energy system, related to the strategy of sustainable development in the region. Taking into account the potential for biomass development and the sustainability criteria, this paper presents a case study of sustainable regional energy planning and implementation in the selected region in Poland. An example of optimizing biomass for renewable use at the municipal level is valuable, as the use of biomass energy requires knowledge of landscapes, energy options, and different stakeholder perspectives. Thus, “energyscapes,” a complex spatial and temporary combination of energy supply, demand, and infrastructure within the landscape, can be very useful in this context. Ongoing research contributes to the development of knowledge on promoting renewable energy sources at the local level and supporting a fair transition to low-carbon energy through energy citizenship and the development of sustainable low-carbon communities at the regional level.

This study explores the effect of renewable energy and agriculture on CO2 emissions in a sample of 94 middle-income countries for the years 2000–2015. Using two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) regression, we find there is a negative relationship between renewable energy production, agriculture value added and per capita CO2 emissions. If causal, a 1% increase in renewable electricity output leads to a 0.18% decrease in CO2 emissions. Our results remain robust when we include additional control variables. Our study suggests that policy tools such as subsidies or low interest loans can be used to promote renewable energy consumption in middle-income countries.

Abstract Background Pyocyanin is a blue pigment produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Due to its unique redox properties over the last decade, it has gained more and more interest as a utile chemical. Nevertheless, it remains a rather costly reagent. It was previously shown that the production of pyocyanin can be enhanced by employing various methods. Among them are using statistical methods for planning the experiments or exposing bacterial cultures to stressors such as nanoparticles dosed in sublethal concentrations, e.g. zinc oxide nanoparticles. Results The Design of Experiment (DoE) methodology allowed for calculating the optimal process temperature and nanoparticle concentration to intensify pyocyanin production. Low concentrations of the nanoparticles (6.06 µg/mL) and a temperature of 32℃ enhanced pyocyanin production, whereas higher concentrations of nanoparticles (275.75 µg/mL) and higher temperature stimulated biomass production and caused the abolishment of pyocyanin production. Elevated pigment production in zinc oxide nanoparticles-supplemented media was sustained in the scaled-up culture. Conducted analyses confirmed that observed stimulation of pyocyanin production is followed by higher membrane potential, altered gene expression, generation of reactive oxygen species, and accumulation of zinc in the cell’s biomass. Conclusions Pyocyanin production can be steered using ZnO nanoparticles. Elevated production of pyocyanin due to exposure to nanoparticles is followed by the number of changes in physiology of bacteria and is a result of the cellular stress. We showed that the stress response of bacteria can be optimised using statistical methods and result in producing the desired metabolite more effectively.

In countries with industrialized agriculture, the contribution of fossil energy equals or exceeds the energy provided to society in food. Poland is one of the countries which, in the absence of its own sufficient oil and gas resources, is forced to import these fossil fuels in order to benefit from modern solutions in the field of food production and distribution. This situation poses a serious threat to food security if there is a prolonged shortage of energy from such sources. Using the example of Poland, the following were identified: the causes and level of agricultural dependence on fossil fuels, energy threats to agriculture and energy source alternative to fossil fuels. The results of these considerations indicate that Poland is not a country that has irretrievably lost its ability to restore its food self-sufficiency in the event of loss of access to external sources of fossil fuels.

Phytoremediation which mainly using hyperaccumulator is a very popular and environmental-friendly clean method. Long term continuous test is very important due to its low remediation efficiency in a growth period. Cd hyperaccumulator Rorippa globosa (Turcz.) Thell. Was used to explore the effect of two remediation modes (harvests at flowering and maturity stages) on the continuous remediation efficiency in a 3-year experiment using pot experiment with real Cd contaminated soil. The results showed that the biomass in maturity-harvest treatments was 1.12 times of that in flowering-harvest treatments due to the short vegetation time. Shoot Cd concentrations in the flowering-harvest treatments were on average 15.4% lower compared to the maturity-harvest treatments either. However, the Cd phytoextraction efficiency (PE) in the flowering-harvest treatments was 13.8% higher compared to the harvests at the maturity stage due to the growth cycle of R. globosa harvested at the flowering was 34.5% of shorter compared to those in the maturity harvest treatments. After three consecutive years of R. globosa phytoextraction, the concentration of extractable Cd decreased on average by 28.7% and corresponding PEs lower either. It was suggested that cultivation modes of R. globosa and low-accumulation crop rotation, or three times flowering harvests of R. globosa per year seemed to be a good choice in practical solution.