Guihua Hou

Cytotoxicity of sulfurous acid on cell membrane and Bioactivity of Nitrosomonas europaea

Nitrosomonas europaea, an ammonia oxidizing bacterium, was chosen as a research model to study the alteration of cell membrane in the presence of sulfurous acid and biodegradation of acetochlor. Significant changes of the outer cell membrane were observed in the presence of sulfurous acid using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The fluorescence polarization has shown a significant decrease in membrane fluidity and the increase of permeability of cell membrane. Lysozyme experiment show the cell becomes easily influenced by substance in medium. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements show considerable amount of Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) in the supernatant from the sulfurous acid exposed cells. Sulfurous acid treatment enhanced the ability of N. europaea to degrade acetochlor. On this basis, it can be concluded that the increased cell permeability is favor for the absorbability of nutrition. As a result, N. europaea grows faster and the biodegradation efficiency was improved.

Study on structural characteristics and adsorption performance of ultrasonic treated Mn-containing sulfur transfer agent

Abstract To prepare manganese-containing spinel sulfur transfer agent with acid peptization, ultrasonic wave is used for the first time to modify the structure of sulfur transfer agent in this work. Mini fixed bed reactor was used to investigate the effect of ultrasonic power, time and temperature on the structure and oxidation adsorption performance of sulfur transfer agent and the adsorption kinetics and mechanism of SO2 were analyzed. SEM, TEM, XRD and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques were employed to characterize and analyse the function of sulfur transfer agent. The results indicated that manganese-containing spinel is a kind of promising sulfur transfer agent and exhibits higher sulfur capacity and desulfurization degree under the selected conditions of the ultrasonic wave power of 60%, and with the treatment period for 3 h at a temperature of 60 °C.