Certain species of plants can benefit from synergistic effects with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that improve plant growth and metal accumulation, mitigating toxic effects on plants and increasing their tolerance to heavy metals. The application of PGPR as biofertilizers and atmospheric nitrogen fixators contributes considerably to the intensification of the phytoremediation process. In this paper, we have built a system consisting of rhizospheric Azotobacter microbial populations and Lepidium sativum plants, growing in solutions containing heavy metals in various concentrations. We examined the ability of the organisms to grow in symbiosis so as to stimulate the plant growth and enhance its tolerance to Cr(VI) and Cd(II), to ultimately provide a reliable phytoremediation system. The study was developed at the laboratory level and, at this stage, does not assess the inherent interactions under real conditions occurring in contaminated fields with autochthonous microflora and under different pedoclimatic conditions and environmental stresses. Azotobacter sp. bacteria could indeed stimulate the average germination efficiency of Lepidium sativum by almost 7%, average root length by 22%, average stem length by 34% and dry biomass by 53%. The growth of L. sativum has been affected to a greater extent in Cd(II) solutions due its higher toxicity compared to that of Cr(VI). The reduced tolerance index (TI, %) indicated that plant growth in symbiosis with PGPR was however affected by heavy metal toxicity, while the tolerance of the plant to heavy metals was enhanced in the bacteria-plant system. A methodology based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) and differential evolution (DE), specifically a neuro-evolutionary approach, was applied to model germination rates, dry biomass and root/stem length and proving the robustness of the experimental data. The errors associated with all four variables are small and the correlation coefficients higher than 0.98, which indicate that the selected models can efficiently predict the experimental data.

Please cite this article as: Hlihor, R.M., Figueiredo, H., Tavares, T., Gavrilescu, M.,Biosorption potential of dead and living Arthrobacter viscosus biomass in the removal of Cr(VI): Batch and column studies, Process Safety and Environment Protection (2016), http://dx.

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Emerging pollutants such as pharmaceutical active compounds were detected worldwide in different environmental compartments. Nowadays, multiple studies are focused on the investigation of their environmental fate, as well as to find new, efficient and sustainable removal technologies. Several studies demonstrated that heterogeneous photocatalysis is one of the most promising techniques used for water purification. Thus, the aim of our work was to evaluate the photodegradation efficiency of a refractory emergent compound, named clofibric acid, under UV light in aqueous solution. We report that photodegradation and mineralization efficiency are strongly dependent of the catalyst used. Results showed that the photodegradation was enhanced in the presence of TiO2 Aeroxide. The complete elimination was achieved for an initial pollutant concentration of 1.5 mg/L after 30 min of irradiation, the degradation rate following the pseudo-first order kinetics. It was also observed that the rate constant for the photodegradation process is affected by the concentration of catalyst. Process efficiency is enhanced by increasing the light intensity. The simultaneous reduction of pollutant concentration and dissolved organic carbon demonstrates the mineralization of the target molecule. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the addition of nitrate to the system increases the pollutant degradation rate, while the carbonate reduces its removal, suggesting that this last ion can act as a hydroxyl scavenger. Preliminary phytotoxicity tests were also carried out and showed the capacity of the heterogeneous photocatalysis to reduce the toxicity of reaction intermediates generated during the photocatalytic reaction.

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The practice of organic agriculture represents an essential requirement for conserving natural resources and for providing the food necessary for a growing population, on a sustainable basis. Tomatoes are considered to be one of the most important crops worldwide. In this context, the organic production of tomatoes should be taken into more consideration. The use of microorganisms-based commercial products is an alternative to chemical fertilizers. Anyway, the results of their use are still variable because of various factors. The aim of this study was to test the effect of inoculation with AMF, PGPR and fungi-based products (Rizotech plus®) on the morphological (length of the plants), biochemical (lycopen, polyphenols, antioxidant activity), and number of fruits and yields of four tomato cultivars (Siriana F1, HTP F1, Minaret F1, Inima de Bou) in two different water regimes used for irrigation (200 m3 or 300 m3 of water/hectare) under a protected area. The results showed that the efficiency of Rizotech plus® application is dependent on the cultivar and the amount of water used. Also, it was clearly demonstrated that the microorganism inoculation significantly increased the yield of Minaret F1, Siriana F1 and HTP F1 cultivars as compared to the uninoculated plants, regardless of the water amount used in the experiment. Moreover, it was observed that for the irrigation of all four cultivars, inoculated with Rizotech plus®, a lower amount of water (200 m3·ha−1) can be used to get the same length of plants, number of fruits and yield as in the case of a higher amount of water (300 m3·ha−1). In the case of lycopene, polyphenols and antioxidant activity, the results varied with the cultivar and the water amount used. This study gives new information about the functionality and performance of the microorganisms from Rizotech plus® product when applied to different tomato cultivars grown in a tunnel, in the condition of two different water regimes, contributing to a better characterization of it and maybe to a more efficient use in agriculture to achieve optimum results.

This work demonstrates new evidence of the efficient destruction and mineralization of an emergent organic pollutant using UV-A and titanium nanosized catalysts. The target compound considered in this work is the primary metabolite of a lipid regulator drug, clofibrate, identified in many studies as refractory during conventional wastewater treatment. The photocatalytic performance study was carried out in batch mode at laboratory scale, in aqueous suspension. Kinetic data showed that titanium dioxide P25 Aeroxide® exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency compared to the other investigated catalysts. Pollutant degradation and mineralization efficiencies strongly increased when decreasing the initial substrate concentration. Target molecules oxidized faster when the catalyst load increased, and the mineralization was enhanced under acidic conditions: 92% of mineralization was achieved at pH 4 after 190 min of reaction. Radical quenching assays confirmed that HO• and ( h vb + ) were the reactive oxygen species involved in the photocatalytic oxidation of the considered pollutant. In addition, further results revealed that the removal efficiency decreased in real water matrices. Finally, data collected through a series of phytotoxicity tests demonstrated that the photocatalytic process considerably reduces the toxicity of the treated solutions, confirming the process’s effectiveness in the removal of persistent and biorefractory emergent organic water pollutants.

We investigated the bioremoval of Cd(II) in batch mode, using dead and living biomass of Trichoderma viride. Kinetic studies revealed three distinct stages of the biosorption process. The pseudo-second order model and the Langmuir model described well the kinetics and equilibrium of the biosorption process, with a determination coefficient, R(2)>0.99. The value of the mean free energy of adsorption, E, is less than 16 kJ/mol at 25 °C, suggesting that, at low temperature, the dominant process involved in Cd(II) biosorption by dead T. viride is the chemical ion-exchange. With the temperature increasing to 40-50 °C, E values are above 16 kJ/mol, showing that the particle diffusion mechanism could play an important role in Cd(II) biosorption. The studies on T. viride growth in Cd(II) solutions and its bioaccumulation performance showed that the living biomass was able to bioaccumulate 100% Cd(II) from a 50 mg/L solution at pH 6.0. The influence of pH, biomass dosage, metal concentration, contact time and temperature on the bioremoval efficiency was evaluated to further assess the biosorption capability of the dead biosorbent. These complex influences were correlated by means of a modeling procedure consisting in data driven approach in which the principles of artificial intelligence were applied with the help of support vector machines (SVM), combined with genetic algorithms (GA). According to our data, the optimal working conditions for the removal of 98.91% Cd(II) by T. viride were found for an aqueous solution containing 26.11 mg/L Cd(II) as follows: pH 6.0, contact time of 3833 min, 8 g/L biosorbent, temperature 46.5 °C. The complete characterization of bioremoval parameters indicates that T. viride is an excellent material to treat wastewater containing low concentrations of metal.