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The coffee fermentation microflora were rich and mainly constituted of aerobic Gram-negative bacilli, with Erwinia and Klebsiella genuses at the highest frequencies. The best population increase was observed with lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, whereas those microorganisms that counted on a pectin medium remained constant during the fermentation step. Qualitatively, lactic acid bacteria belonged mainly to Leuconostoc mesenteroides species but the others microflora were relatively heterogeneous. The microorganisms isolated on pectin medium were Enterobacteriaceae, identified as Erwinia herbicola and Klebsiella pneumoniae, not reported as strong pectolytic strains. Throughout coffee fermentation, 60% of the simple sugars were degraded by the total microflora and not specifically by pectolytic microorganisms.

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During the fermentation of Coffea arabica L., the most frequently found pectolytic bacteria were Erwinia herbicola and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These micro‐organisms produce pectatelyase which is unable to depolymerize esterified pectins of mucilage without previous de‐esterification. Furthermore, the optimal activities are observed at pH 8.5 whereas fermentation conditions are acidic (5.3–3.5). The major lactic acid bacteria, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, do not produce pectolytic enzymes. Only a Lactobacillus brevis strain, rarely isolated with a low frequency, shows a polygalacturonase activity compatible with fermentation conditions. Mucilage decomposition seems to be correlated to acidification and not to enzymatic pectolysis. Inoculation with pectolytic micro‐organisms allows microbiological control of the fermentation but does not speed up the process. It would be preferable to use lactic acid bacteria so that the pH remained as close as possible to natural fermentation, where acidification is important. This practice would standardize the coffee fermentation microflora and therefore control the end product quality.

Phytoremediation and phycoremediation are cost-effective and environmentally sound technologies for the treatment of polluted streams and wastewaters contaminated with metals. Currently, the most commonly used parameter to assess the metal uptake of biomass is (q) expressed as mg metal g dry weight(-1). By contrast, the bioconcentration factor (BCF) is one of the most widely used factors to evaluate the metal uptake capacity of macrophytes. However, both parameters the metal uptake (q) and the BCF cannot be applied to differentiate between the ability of live plants or photosynthetic microorganisms to adsorb the metal onto their surface through passive mechanisms or to accumulate the contaminant at intracellular level through metabolically active mechanisms. This mini review has the objective of discussing the need to differentiate between bioadsorption and bioaccumulation of metals in live plants and photosynthetic microorganisms used in phytofiltration and phycoremediation processes, respectively. The use of two specific factors, the bioadsorption factor (BAF) and the intracellular accumulation factor (IAF) that have been previously reported in order to make a clear differentiation between these two metal removal mechanisms in Salvinia minima and Leptolyngbya crossbyana is highlighted. It is suggested that the BAF and the IAF can be used in phytofiltration wetlands and phycoremediation lagoons, where there is the need of specific information indicating the fate of the metal in order to gain information about possible removal mechanisms. These factors could also provide a tool to decide whether it is possible to harvest the biomass and to recover a fair amount of metal adsorbed onto the surface by means of desorbent agents. A critical assessment of the use of EDTA as desorbent agent is also included.

The effects of environmental factors and nutrients on the various possible removal mechanisms (surface adsorption, intracellular accumulation and precipitation to sediments) and partitioning of lead among various compartments (plant biomass, water column and sediments) in Salvinia minima batch-operated lagoons, were evaluated. Surface adsorption was found to be the predominant mechanism for Pb(II) removal under all environmental conditions tested in the absence of nutrients (an average of 54.3%) and in a nutrient medium (modified Hutner 1/10 medium) free of EDTA and phosphates (54.41%) at "high" initial Pb(II) concentrations (in the range of 10.3+/-0.13 to 15.2+/-0.05 mg/L). Under these conditions, the bioconcentration factors (BCFs) were 2,431+/-276 and 2,065+/-35, respectively. Lead removal was very rapid during the first 4 h and reached 70% in the absence of nutrients at the "medium" light intensity and temperature (LIT) tested, 88% in nutrient medium free of EDTA and supplemented with synthetic wastewater (at the "lowest" LIT tested), and 85% in medium free of EDTA and phosphates. It was concluded that the mechanisms of lead removal by S. minima, and the compartmentalization of this metal in the microcosm of batch-operated lagoons, are primarily a function of the presence of certain nutrients and chelants, with secondary dependence on environmental conditions. In addition, the results indicate that the percentage of lead removed is only a gross parameter and that the complementary use of BCF and compartmentalization analysis is required to gain a full insight into the metal removal process.