Ruofei Jin

Microbial synthesis of Pd/Fe3O4, Au/Fe3O4 and PdAu/Fe3O4 nanocomposites for catalytic reduction of nitroaromatic compounds

Magnetically recoverable noble metal nanoparticles are promising catalysts for chemical reactions. However, the chemical synthesis of these nanocatalysts generally causes environmental concern due to usage of toxic chemicals under extreme conditions. Here, Pd/Fe3O4, Au/Fe3O4 and PdAu/Fe3O4 nanocomposites are biosynthesized under ambient and physiological conditions by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. Microbial cells firstly transform akaganeite into magnetite, which then serves as support for the further synthesis of Pd, Au and PdAu nanoparticles from respective precursor salts. Surface-bound cellular components and exopolysaccharides not only function as shape-directing agent to convert some Fe3O4 nanoparticles to nanorods, but also participate in the formation of PdAu alloy nanoparticles on magnetite. All these three kinds of magnetic nanocomposites can catalyze the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and some other nitroaromatic compounds by NaBH4. PdAu/Fe3O4 demonstrates higher catalytic activity than Pd/Fe3O4 and Au/Fe3O4. Moreover, the magnetic nanocomposites can be easily recovered through magnetic decantation after catalysis reaction. PdAu/Fe3O4 can be reused in at least eight successive cycles of 4-nitrophenol reduction. The biosynthesis approach presented here does not require harmful agents or rigorous conditions and thus provides facile and environmentally benign choice for the preparation of magnetic noble metal nanocatalysts.

Acceleration of azo dye decolorization by using quinone reductase activity of azoreductase and quinone redox mediator

This study demonstrated the effective application of intracellular azoreductase in mediated decolorization of azo dyes. Using the quinone reductase activity of overexpressed azoreductase AZR and quinone redox mediators, the decolorization performance of the recombinant strain Escherichia coli YB was significantly enhanced. In the presence of 0.2 mM lawsone, 75% acid red 27 (1 mM) was decolorized by E. coli YB in only 2 h, which was the highest bacterial decolorization rate ever reported. Compared to lawsone, menadione was a less effective redox mediator. Glucose was found to be the best carbon source for mediated decolorization by E. coli YB. The recombinant strain could complete four rounds of mediated decolorization repeatedly in 12 h. In addition, a 10-min pre-incubation of E. coli JM109 and activated sludge with 2-methylhydroquinone resulted in great improvement of mediated decolorization performance, which may be applied in practical treatment.

Enhanced chromate reduction by resting Escherichia coli cells in the presence of quinone redox mediators

The reduction of Cr(VI) by resting Escherichia coli cells was significantly enhanced by the quinone redox mediators, lawsone, menadione, anthraquinone-2-sulfonate and anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate. In the presence of 0.2 mM lawsone, over 97.5% Cr(VI) (100 mg l(-1)) was reduced in 4h. The mediated reduction occurred at initial Cr(VI) concentrations of 50-250 mg l(-1), and increased with increasing initial biomass concentrations from 0.05 to 1.2 g l(-1). The addition of glucose as electron donor promoted the reduction process. Cu(2+), Ni(2+) and Co(2+) inhibited, whereas Mn(2+) and Pb(2+) stimulated reduction. Four rounds of mediated reduction were completed in 19 h, suggesting its stability and persistence. The efficient mediated microbial reduction of Cr(VI) is promising for rapid anaerobic removal of chromate.

Quinone-mediated reduction of selenite and tellurite by Escherichia coli

The reduction of selenite (Se(IV)) and tellurite (Te(IV)) by Escherichia coli was significantly enhanced by various quinone redox mediators (lawsone, menadione, anthraquinone-2-sulfonate, and anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate). In the presence of 0.2mM lawsone, over 99.1% Se(IV) and around 96.4% Te(IV) were reduced in 8 h, at average reduction rates of 9.1 and 7.6 mM g cell(-1) h(-1), respectively. Better mediated reduction of Se(IV) and Te(IV) were observed when lawsone concentration increased from 0.1 to 0.4 mM and cell concentration increased from 0.1 to 0.6 g l(-1), respectively. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed the formation of both intracellular and extracellular Se(0) nanospheres or Te(0) nanorods, and the presence of lawsone increased the formation and accumulation of extracellular precipitates. The efficient mediated microbial reduction of Se(IV)/Te(IV) may be exploited for pollution removal and biological nanomaterials production.

Microbial formation of palladium nanoparticles by Geobacter sulfurreducens for chromate reduction.

Geobacter sulfurreducens was studied for the reduction of Pd(II) and production of Pd(0) nanoparticles capable of reducing Cr(VI). Transmission electronic microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray and X-ray diffraction analyses revealed that the nanoscale Pd(0) particles formed were associated with the cell surface and located inside the periplasm. The increase of cell dry weight (CDW):Pd ratio and addition of anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) not only stimulated Pd(II) reduction, but also resulted in increase of nanoparticle number, decrease of particle diameter and improvement of Cr(VI) reduction efficiency. The relationship between reduction rate and initial Cr(VI) concentration (150-750 μM) followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics (Vmax=3.6 μmol h(-1) mg bio-Pd(-1) and Km=891.3 μM). These findings indicated the potential of using G. sulfurreducens cells for reclamation of palladium, formation of Pd(0) nanoparticles and efficient treatment of Cr(VI) pollution.

Bioaugmentation on decolorization of C.I. Direct Blue 71 by using genetically engineered strain Escherichia coli JM109 (pGEX-AZR).

The study showed that Escherichia coli JM109 (pGEX-AZR), the genetically engineered microorganism (GEM) with higher ability to decolorize azo dyes, bioaugmented successfully the dye wastewater bio-treatment systems to enhance C.I. Direct Blue 71 (DB 71) decolorization. The control and bioaugmented reactors failed at a around pH 5.0. However, the bioaugmented one succeeded at around pH 9.0, the influent DB 71 concentration was 150 mg/L, DB 71 concentration was decreased to 27.4 mg/L in 12h. The 1-3% NaCl concentration of bioaugmented reactors had no definite influence on decolorization, DB 71 concentration was decreased to 12.6 mg/L in 12h. GEM was added into anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (AnSBRs) to enhance DB 71 decolorization. Continuous operations of the control and bioaugmented AnSBRs showed that E. coli JM109 (pGEX-AZR) could bioaugment decolorization. The concentrations of activated sludge and GEM were still more than 2.80 g/L and 1.5 x 10(6)cells/mL, respectively, in the bioaugmented AnSBR. All the microbial communities changed indistinctively with time. The microbial community structures of the control AnSBR were similar to those of the bioaugmented one.

Removal of water-insoluble Sudan dyes by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1.

Decolorization of water-insoluble Sudan dyes was studied with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, which removed 66.8%, 43.4%, 56.0% and 33.7% Sudan I-IV in 104 h, respectively and reduced Sudan I to aniline and 1-amino-2-naphthol. Lactate was identified as the most efficient electron donor for Sudan I reduction. Improved reduction performance was obtained in the presence of higher lactate or biomass concentration. The correlation between specific reduction rate and initial Sudan I concentration could be described with Michaelis-Menten kinetics (V(max)=1.8 mg Sudan I mg cell(-1) h(-1) and K(m)=5.3 mg l(-1)). The addition of anthraquinone-2-sulfonate stimulated the reduction significantly whereas the presence of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone had little enhancing effect. The main azoreductase activity was found with membrane-bound proteins of MR-1 and no reduction occurred when Sudan I was incubated with cell extracts. These data indicated for the first time that Shewanella could reduce solid-phase Sudan dye particles.

Study on nitrogen removal performance of sequencing batch reactor enhanced by low intensity ultrasound

Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was widely used in the treatment of various wastewater. The effects of low intensity ultrasound on the nitrogen removal performance of SBR were studied. The optimum operation conditions were determined to be 35 kHz, 0.15 W cm(-2), and irradiation time of 10 min. Compared with those of the control reactor, the organic, NH(4)(+)-N, NO(2)(-)-N and NO(3)(-)-N loads of the ultrasound enhanced reactor (UER) were improved by 16.5%, 35.0%, 41.7% and 61.9%, respectively. Increased 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride-dehydrogenase and nitrification activities were observed with sludge in UER. Furthermore, negligible negative effects of ultrasound irradiation on the settle ability and sludge concentration were found, which resulted in no decrease of the nitrogen removal performance of the UER.

Simultaneous removal of chromate and nitrate in a packed-bed bioreactor using biodegradable meal box as carbon source and biofilm carriers

An up-flow packed-bed bioreactor was constructed to investigate the simultaneous removal of chromate and nitrate using biodegradable meal box as carbon source and biofilm carriers. The bioreactor was operated for 164days with varying influent Cr(VI) concentrations (2.0-50.0mg/L) and hydraulic retention times (HRT, 10-24h). It was shown that complete denitrification and Cr(VI) reduction could be achieved when influent Cr(VI) concentrations were lower than 20mg/L with a HRT of 17h. Shortening the HRT could significantly reduce the effluent CODcr. It was also observed that Cr(III) was mainly immobilized on the biofilm. Further investigation on Cr distribution in the biofilm compartments indicated that Cr(VI) reduction occurred in all compartments and the intercellular Cr was dominant. High-throughput sequencing analysis showed that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla in the biofilm and Cr(VI) stress had a negative effect on the abundance of most bacteria.

Effects of reduction products of ortho-hydroxyl substituted azo dyes on biodecolorization of azo dyes

The mediated effects of reduction products of some ortho-hydroxyl substituted azo dyes on biodecolorization were investigated. The results indicated that the addition of reduction products could effectively accelerate dye decolorization by Shigella sp. QRZ-1. The best accelerating effect was obtained with the addition of reduction products of Acid Red 14 (AR14), resulting in an over 3-fold increase in decolorization efficiency of many azo dyes. In sequencing batch reactor experiments, the accelerating effect of reduction products of AR14 was more obvious (1.5-fold) during the startup of the system. When the dye concentration was increased to 500 mg L(-1), the accelerated decolorization efficiency was still maintained around 95%. The presence of AR14 in the feed enhanced the decolorization performance of anaerobic sludge, indicating that the strategy may be beneficial for practical application. 1-Naphthol-2-amino-4-sulfonic acid, which is one of the reduction products of AR14, may function as redox mediator to speed up azo dye biodecolorization.