Hamdani Abdulgani, Hadiyanto Hadiyanto, Sudarno Sudarno
et al.
Wastewater treatment using traditional systems is considered expensive because it requires considerable energy and installation. The current study assessed the existence of a combination process that can reduce costs and is easy to operate. This study evaluates the performance of an anaerobic-aerobic biofilter system to treat industrial wastewater from cracker production. The combination of anaerobic and aerobic biofilters can significantly reduce Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), which are important parameters for wastewater quality. Sampling was carried out on the influent channel of the fish cracker industry. Sampling uses the SNI 6989.59:2008 regulation in the form of a wastewater test sampling method. The results showed that the biofilter achieved BOD removal of up to 84.90% and COD reduction of more than 89.02% when operated with an extended Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT) of up to 24 h. The results also showed that in wastewater treatment, HRT optimization should be considered for maximum pollutant removal, as shorter retention times proved less effective in reducing COD and BOD organic loads. These findings suggest that anaerobic-aerobic biofilter systems are viable and scalable solutions for industries seeking efficient and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment options.
Abstract Mainly in the new era, there is a need to accelerate chemical reactions, which is made possible by advanced nanocatalysts, whose magnetic nanocatalysts are highly efficient in controlling chemical reactions such as Sonogashira coupling and alcohol oxidation. Magnetic nanocatalysts are made of magnetite nanoparticles under the chemical co-precipitation method. Their structure was identified by analysis such as EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray) and XRD (X-ray diffraction). The Sonogashira carbon–carbon coupling reaction was performed twice consecutively, and the product efficiency was more than 97%. Oxidation of alcohols to produce aldehyde products is up to 99%. The structure of the magnetic nanocomposite was analyzed after several reuses, and the results showed that it was unchanged, and its performance, structure, and magnetic properties were fully preserved. The reaction conditions are at the lowest possible temperature, harmless solvents, and the highest efficiency percentage, which creates green conditions. The products obtained from the Sonogashira double coupling reaction have two triple bonds. Also, the products with the oxidation of alcohols, which are used as the main precursors in the chemical and medical industries for chemical and pharmaceutical production, are very important.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials
Accidents are often attributed to frontline operator errors, overshadowing higher-level organizational and regulatory factors. This study integrates Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) with fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) - a configurational approach - to examine 80 major accident investigation reports from five high-risk Chinese industries (chemical, construction, transportation, coal mining, firefighting) spanning 2010-2022. Four systemic control elements (control activities errors, feedback errors, controller failures, controlled process errors) were assessed against three severity indicators (fatalities, injuries, direct economic losses). Results reveal distinct yet overlapping causal pathways. In chemical accidents, feedback errors are crucial for high fatalities. Construction and coal mining often link early controller/control activity failures to severe outcomes. Transportation highlights control activity errors for injuries, while firefighting points to the combination of control activity errors and controller failures. NCA corroborates key factors like feedback errors and controller failures as necessary conditions (effect sizes d > 0.1, p < 0.05). While supplementary statistical analysis confirmed these factors' general importance, it faced data limitations (small N, collinearity); the fsQCA/NCA approach provided more robust insights into combinatorial pathways and necessity. Bottleneck analyses further indicate that even modest increments in key errors can trigger disproportionately large losses. These findings underscore the need for multi-level interventions-strengthening feedback loops, organizational oversight, and control processes-to mitigate accident severity in complex socio-technical systems, demonstrating the utility of configurational methods for understanding systemic failures.
<i>Ginkgo biloba</i> seed (GBS) contains rich nutrients, such as starch, protein, oil, and trace components, such as flavonoids and terpene lactones. Due to its high protein content, it can be used as a raw material for fermentation and brewing. In this study, GBS was selected as the object of a fermentation process optimization test. Six kinds of fermentation starter were selected to brew ginkgo wine. The results showed that different fermentation starters have significant impacts on the composition of the wine. The yeast group had higher total sugar content and comprehensive evaluation scores than the Jiuqu group, while the total acid and total free amino acid contents showed the opposite result. The total flavonoid and total terpene lactone contents of the yeast group were 21.0% and 12.8% higher than those of the Jiuqu group, respectively. However, the 4′-O-methylpyridoxine (MPN) and 4′-O-methylpyridoxine-5′-glucoside (MPNG) contents of the yeast group were also 12.6% and 2.3% higher than those of the Jiuqu group, respectively. The common volatile components in the two groups of samples were isoamyl alcohol, phenethyl alcohol, ethyl octanoate, and phenethyl acetate. The antioxidant capacity of ginkgo wine fermented by yeast was significantly higher than that of the Jiuqu group sample.
In this study, <i>Limosilactobacillus fermentum</i> PTCC 1638 and <i>Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus</i> PTCC 1637 were used alone and in combination to ferment quinoa seeds, and the effect of fermentation (37 °C; 24 h) on the pH, total phenols, tocopherols, vitamin C, antioxidant activity, and enzymes inhibition (α-amylase and α-glucosidase; antidiabetic effect) was investigated. The results showed that with the increase in the fermentation time, the bacterial population, total phenols, antioxidant activity, and enzymes inhibition increased, which showed the greatest increase for the co-culture of <i>L. rhamnosus</i> and <i>L. fermentum</i> compared to the pure culture of each strain. Due to the increase in the fermentation time, the tocopherol isomers (α, β, γ, and δ), vitamin C, and pH decreased, and the largest decrease was related to the co-culture of the strains, followed by <i>L. rhamnosus</i> and <i>L. fermentum</i>. The results of this study showed that the co-culture and pure culture of bacteria can have different effects on the physicochemical properties and bioactive compounds of quinoa seeds.
The Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APCP) is an important pollution control policy formulated by the Chinese government to promote green development. However, there are few studies of its impact. Based on a province-level panel dataset from 2007 to 2017, we use a three-hierarchy meta-frontier slack-based data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) model and the global Malmquist (GM) index to estimate the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China's chemical sub-industries. Next, we use the difference-in-differences (DID) method to explore the effect of the implementation of the APCP in 2013 on the GTFP of China's chemical industry. We find an increasing trend in the GTFP of China's chemical industry between 2007 and 2017. A decomposition of the change in GTFP shows that technical progress was the main driving factor and management inefficiency was the main inhibitory factor. The APCP had a significant positive effect on GTFP. Overall, in the post-implementation period, the increase in the GTFP of the treatment group was approximately 7.9% greater than in the control group. The APCP also significantly improved the technical efficiency change index. A dynamic effect analysis shows that the positive effect of the APCP on GTFP had an inverted U-shaped trend. A series of robustness tests, including counterfactual, re-grouping, and quasi-DID tests, suggest that our findings are reliable. In addition, changes in exports, capital deepening, and energy prices all significantly improved the GTFP of China's chemical industry.
Abstract Geographical maldistribution of coal and water resource has led to huge water consumption, posing great challenges to the development of coal chemical industries in China. In this study, based on the obtained unit product data of water withdrawal, consumption, and wastewater effluent capacity, the wastewater quantitative information about water quality and relevant energy and reagents consumption for several coal chemical industries were analyzed. Then, the life cycle costs of different types of coal chemical wastewater were analyzed when achieving ICIWD (1st category integrated wastewater discharge) and ZLD (zero liquid discharge) standards. According to the results, the life cycle cost of ICIWD was average 0.94 US$/t water less than that of the wastewater meeting ZLD, because the life cycle boundaries focused on coal chemical industries. Given surface water treatment cost and environment damages value, ICIWD's total cost was 1.07 US$/t water higher than ZLD's. Besides, the consumed water of planning advanced coal chemical projects of 2018 took up 2.8% of total industrial water. Such proportion could even reach over 30% in north and northwest regions. It is suggested that ZLD water policies and water resources appraisal should be introduced to improve and strengthen the rational layout of coal chemical projects.
Lorenzo Siroli, Barbara Giordani, Samantha Rossi
et al.
The use of milling by-products as ingredients in food formulations has increased gradually over the past years, due to their well-recognized health properties. Fermentation performed with selected microbial strains or microbial consortia is the most promising way to reduce antinutritional factors of cereals and bran, while increasing their nutritional and functional properties. This work, developed within the BBI project INGREEN, was aimed to study the functional, nutritional and technological features of a pre-fermented ingredient obtained from the fermentation of a mixture of rye bran and wheat germ by a selected microbial consortium composed of yeasts (<i>Kazachstania unispora</i> and <i>Kazachstania servazii</i>) and lactic acid bacteria (<i>Latilactobacillus curvatus</i>) using as reference the unfermented mixture and the same mixture fermented by a baker’s yeast. The selected microbial consortium improved the complexity of the volatile molecules such as acids, alcohols and esters. A better retention of color parameters was maintained compared to the product fermented by a baker’s yeast. In addition, the fermentation by the selected consortium showed a significant increase in short chain fatty acids (more than 5-fold), antioxidant activity (22–24%), total phenol content (53–71%), bioactive peptides (39–52%), a reduction of 20–28% in phytic acid content and an increase in prebiotic activity not only compared to the unfermented product but also compared to the preferment obtained with a baker’s yeast. Overall, the fermentation by the selected microbial consortium can be considered a valuable way to valorize milling by-products and promote their exploitation as food ingredients.
2,3-Butanediol (2,3-BD) is a promising platform chemical, produced from microbial cells. Oxygen availability is a crucial factor driving the formation and proportion of 2,3-BD and acetoin in 2,3-BD producing bacterial strains. In this study, the ability of <i>B. subtills</i> GD5 to produce 2,3-BD in optimized sucrose-based media was evaluated, by investigating the impact of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio and the effectiveness of alternative low-cost nitrogen sources (corn steep liquor, soybean meal, and ammonium sulphate). Subsequently, different dissolved oxygen (DO) controlling regimes were assessed in batch bioreactor fermentations. The best fermentation outcomes were obtained with uncontrolled DO, achieving 5.88 g/L of optically pure (R,R)-2,3-BD (~100% purity), accompanied by a production yield of 0.43 g/g, and a productivity of 0.2 g/L/h. Additionally, the influence of the DO controlling regime on <i>B. subtills</i> key enzymes involved in the reverse activity of acetoin reductase was also monitored. A fed-batch process under the most suitable DO conditions was carried out to improve 2,3-BD production, achieving 42.31 g/L 2,3-BD with a production yield of 0.52 g/g. Thus, <i>B. subtilis</i> GD5 is a promising strain for the efficient production of pure chiral (R,R)-2,3-BD under uncontrolled DO conditions, using alternative low-cost nitrogen sources.
Rocío Escribano-Viana, Lucía González-Arenzana, Patrocinio Garijo
et al.
One of the alternatives to SO<sub>2</sub> as an antimicrobial is the use of bioprotection yeasts, which colonize the medium preventing the proliferation of undesirable microorganisms. In this work, the bioprotective effect of a mixed inoculum formed by <i>Torulaspora delbrueckii</i>/<i>Lachancea thermotolerans</i> during fermentation was evaluated. For this purpose, fermentations were carried out using this mixed inoculum and the populations of yeasts, lactic bacteria and acetic bacteria, and the physical–chemical parameters of the wines obtained were studied. The results were compared with those obtained in spontaneous fermentation with and without SO<sub>2</sub>. The different fermentation strategies caused a differentiation in the yeast species present during fermentation. Regarding populations of lactic acid bacteria, results showed that the effect of the addition of the mixed inoculum was comparable to that exerted by SO<sub>2</sub>. On the other hand, due to the high sensitivity of acetic acid bacteria to SO<sub>2</sub>, the sulfite vinifications showed a lower population of acetic acid bacteria in the early stages of fermentation, followed by the vinifications with the mixed inoculum.
Simeone De Simone, Francesco Di Capua, Ludovico Pontoni
et al.
The agricultural spreading of treated sewage sludge is a valid strategy in terms of circular economy for the management of this nutrient-rich waste. Anaerobic digestion (AD) can be applied to stabilize and hygienize sewage sludge, making it suitable for agricultural reuse, while producing biogas to be utilized as an energy vector. However, the presence of contaminants, including petroleum hydrocarbons, could limit the widespread agricultural utilization of sewage sludge. In this context, the impact of dewatering agents, such as cationic polyelectrolytes, on AD efficiency and hydrocarbon biodegradation has been poorly investigated, although it represents a noteworthy aspect when conditioned sludge is digested for agricultural use in centralized biogas plants. This work aims to elucidate the effect of cationic polyelectrolyte addition on biomethanation as well as the degradation and extractability of C<sub>10</sub>-C<sub>40</sub> hydrocarbons during mesophilic AD of sewage sludge. The addition of 26.7 g/kg<sub>TS</sub> of cationic polyelectrolyte was observed to extend the AD lag phase, although similar methane yields (573–607 mL<sub>CH<sub>4</sub></sub> per g of degraded volatile solids) were observed for both conditioned and raw sludge. Furthermore, a significant impact on hydrocarbon degradation was observed due to chemical conditioning. Indeed, this work reveals that cationic polyelectrolytes can affect hydrocarbon extractability and suggests moreover that the presence of natural interferents (e.g., biogenic waxes) in sewage sludge may lead to an overestimation of potentially toxic C<sub>10</sub>-C<sub>40</sub> hydrocarbon concentrations, potentially limiting the application of sludge-derived digestates in agriculture.
China is a major country producing and using hazardous chemicals. Unfortunately, the hazardous chemical industry is still one of the most high-risk industries in China. In recent years, especially after two devastating hazardous chemical accidents, namely "Qingdao 11.2 Crude Oil Leaking and Explosion Accident" and "Tianjin Port 8.12 Fire and Explosion Accident" which occurred in 2013 and 2015 respectively, China has attached great importance to hazardous chemical safety. The period between 2016 and 2017 is a crucial period for the future direction of hazardous chemical safety in China because China released a series of important government documents (such as 'Thirteenth Five-Year (2016-2020) Plan for Hazardous Chemical Safety' and 'Comprehensive Plan for Hazardous Chemical Safety Management (December 2016-November 2019)') to promote hazardous chemical safety in the future. What is the future development of China's hazardous chemical safety? To answer this question, this paper attempts to briefly analyze and introduce the opportunities, problems, challenges and tasks of the future of safety with hazardous chemical industrial activities in China, according to the current situation of hazardous chemical safety in China and using the latest government documents and studies. Obviously, this study can provide useful evidence and suggestions for the future of safety management in the hazardous chemical industry both within China and in other countries.