Background: High-cost production of bioplastics polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) is a major concern for their large scale application. In order to produce PHA economically, new technology must be developed to reduce costs on energy consumption, fresh water and substrate usages. It is also important to conduct the PHA production process in a continuous way rather than in a batch process. Results: A halophile Halomonas campaniensis strain LS21 was isolated to allow the development of a sea water based open and continuous process for PHA production utilizing mixed substrates consisting of mostly cellulose, starch, lipids and proteins. To study the feasibilities of open and long-term cultivation as well as genetic manipulation of this strain, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), the first member of the diverse PHA family, was taken as an example for the application of H. campaniensis LS21 in a robust and long lasting fermentation process. Wild type and recombinant H. campaniensis LS21 containing a PHB synthesis genes phbCAB were allowed respectively to grow in artificial seawater containing mixed substrates similar to kitchen wastes, including soluble and insoluble cellulose, proteins, fats, fatty acids and starch for 65 days without interruption. In the presence of 27 g/L NaCl under a pH around 10 at 37°C, the recombinant produced approximately 70% PHB and the wild type 26% during the 65 days fermentation process without infection. H. campaniensis LS21 secreted extracellular amylase, lipase, protease and cellulase simultaneously during the whole process to allow consumption of the mixed substrates. The recombinant was also found to stably maintain the phbCAB plasmid over the entire 65 days process. Conclusions:The seawater based open and continuous process based on halophilic Halomonas campaniensis LS21 allowed the applications of kitchen wastes like mixed substrates as nutrients for production of bioplastic PHB. This study demonstrates the advantages of this technology in terms of energy saving (non-sterilization), seawater based (not fresh water needed), long-lasting and continuous open processing (against batch process), and low cost substrates (non-food mixed substrates). Combined with its ease of genetic manipulation, Halomonas campaniensis LS21 could be developed into a platform for low cost production of chemicals, materials and biofuels.
Noble metal nanocatalysts are one of the most promising candidates for various catalysis applications. However, their high surface energy undesirably causes serious stability problems, which remarkably decreases the intrinsic catalytic activity. In this paper, for the first time, we describe the successful fabrication of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in situ grown on magnetically separable alginate-based biohydrogels (Ag@AMH) by an environmentally friendly light-driven approach. In the presence of alginate biopolymers, silver ions can be readily adsorbed and subsequently photoreduced to metallic Ag NPs on the biohydrogels. These Ag@AMH catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. The resulting Ag@AMH exhibited excellent and durable activity for the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by NaBH 4 in aqueous solution, which can be recycled for three successive cycles of the reaction with a conversion efficiency of more than 99%. Such Ag@AMH were thus expected to have the potential as a highly efficient, cost-effective and eco-friendly heterogeneous catalyst for industrial applications.
Mesoporous MgO architectures were successfully synthesized by the direct thermal transformation of the sacrificial oxalate template. The as-prepared mesoporous architectures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption techniques. The MgO architectures showed extraordinary adsorption capacity and rapid adsorption rate for removal of Congo red (CR) from water. The maximum adsorption capacity of the MgO architectures toward CR reached 689.7 mg g⁻¹, much higher than most of the previously reported hierarchical adsorbents. The CR removal process was found to obey the Langmuir adsorption model and its kinetics followed pseudo-second-order rate equation. The superior adsorption performance of the mesoporous MgO architectures could be attributed to the unique mesoporous structure, high specific surface area as well as strong electrostatic interaction.
The effect of the Rs-5 bacteria strain, identified as Klebsiella oxytoca and isolated with ACC as the sole nitrogen source, on salt stressed cotton seedling growth was studied. It was demonstrated that Rs-5 could obviously relieve salt stress and promote cotton seedling growth. After treatment with Rs-5, the individual plant height and dry weight of cotton increased by 14.9 and 26.9%, respectively, compared to the control. Further analysis found that Rs-5 exhibited the ability to increase the cotton's absorption of the N, P, K, and Ca elements and decrease the absorbability of the Na element under salt stress. In addition, Rs-5 itself could produce phytohormone-auxin, and was capable of dissolving phosphorus (P). The ratio of the dissolved P diameter to the colony diameter was 1.86. The dissolved P was 81.6 mg·l −1 in media after four days of incubation.
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