To attain a better understanding of the effects of surfactants on the metabolic kinetics of hydrophobic organic compounds, the biodegradation of phenanthrene by Citrobacter sp. SA01 was investigated in a batch experiment containing Tween 80, sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate and liquid mineral salt medium. The Monod model was modified to effectively describe the partition, phenanthrene biodegradation and biopolymer production. The results showed that Tween 80 and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate （each at 50 rag/L） enhanced phenanthrene metabolism and poly-β-hydroxybutyrate production as indicated by the increasing amounts of intermediates Coy 17.2% to 47.9%）, and percentages of poly-β- hydroxybutyrate （by 107.3% and 33.1%） within the cell dry weight when compared to their absence. The modified Monod model was capable of predicting microbial growth, phenanthrene depletion and biopolymer production. Furthermore, the Monod kinetic coefficients were largely determined by the surfactant-enhanced partition, suggesting that partitioning is a critical process in surfactant-enhanced bioremediation of hydro- phobic organic compounds.
An integrative technology including the surfactant enhanced sorption and subsequentdesorption and biodegradation of phenanthrene in the soil-water system was introduced and tested. For slightly contaminated agricultural soils, cationic-nonionic mixed surfactant- enhanced sorption of organic contaminants onto soils could reduce their transfer to plants, therefore safe-guarding agricultural production. After planting, residual surfactants combined with added nonionic surfactant could also promote thedesorption and biodegradation of residual phenanthrene, thus providing a cost-effective pollution remediation technology.0ur results showed that the cationic-nonionic mixed surfactantsdodecylpyridinium bromide （DDPB） and Triton X-100 （TX100） significantly enhanced soil retention of phenanthrene. The maximum sorption coefficient Kd＊ of phenanthrene for contaminated soils treated by mixed surfactants was about24.5 times that of soils without surfactant （Kd ） and higher than the combined effects of DDPB and TX100 individually, which was about 16.7 and 1.5 times Kd , respectively.0n the other hand, TX100 could effectively remove phenanthrene from contaminated soils treated by mixed surfactants, improving the bioavailability of organic pollutants. Thedesorption rates of phenanthrene from these treated soils were greater than 85% with TX100 concentration above2000 mg/L and approached 100% with increasing TX100 concentration. The biodegradation rates of phenanthrene in the presence of surfactants reached over 95% in30days. The mixed surfactants promoted the biodegradation of phenanthrene to some extent in 10-22days, and had no obvious impact on phenanthrene biodegradation at the end of the experiment. Results obtained from this study provide some insight for the production of safe agricultural products and a remediation scheme for soils slightly contaminated with organic pollutants.
The use of surfactants to enhance plant-microbe associated dissipation in soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） is a promising bioremediation technology. This comparative study was conducted on the effects of plant-microbe treatment on the removal of phenanthrene and pyrene from contaminated soil, in the presence of low concentration single anionic, nonionic and anionic-nonionic mixed surfactants. Sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate （SDBS） and Tween 80 were chosen as representative anionic and nonionic surfactants, respectively. We found that mixed surfactants with concentrations less than 150 mg/kg were more effective in promoting plant-microbe associated bioremediation than the same amount of single surfactants. Only about （m/m） of mixed surfactants was needed to remove the same amount of phenanthrene and pyrene from either the planted or unplanted soils, when compared to Tween 80. Mixed surfactants （〈 150 mg/kg） better enhanced the degradation efficiency of phenanthrene and pyrene via microbe or plant-microbe routes in the soils. In the concentration range of 60-150 mg/kg, both ryegrass roots and shoots could accumulate 2-3 times the phenanthrene and pyrene with mixed surfactants than with Tween 80. These results may be explained by the lower sorption loss and reduced inteffacial tension of mixed surfactants relative to Tween 80, which enhanced the bioavailability of PAHs in soil and the microbial degradation efficiency. The higher remediation efficiency of low dosage SDBS-Tween 80 mixed surfactants thus advanced the technology of surfactant-enhanced plant-microbe associated bioremediation.
Air pollution surveys of formaldehyde（HCHO） were conducted in 2324 rooms decorated within one year in 2007-2009 in Hangzhou,China.The mean HCHO concentration（C HCHO） was 0.107 ± 0.095 mg/m 3,and 38.9% of samples exceeded the Chinese National Standard GB 50325-2010.Over the past 3 years,the C HCHO decreased with time（p 〈 0.05）.Relationships of potential factors to indoor C HCHO were also evaluated.C HCHO was related to temperature（T）,relative humidity（RH）,time duration of the windows and doors being closed before sampling（DC）,time duration from the end of decoration to sampling（DR） and source characteristics（d）.A model to relate indoor C HCHO to these five factors（T,RH,DC,DR,d） was established based on 298 samples（R 2 = 0.87）.Various factors contributed to C HCHO in the following order：T,43.7%;d,31.0%;DC,10.2%;DR,8.0%;RH,7.0%;specifically,meteorological conditions（i.e.,RH plus T） accounted for 50.7%.The coefficient of T and RH,R TH,was proposed to describe their combined influence on HCHO emission,which also had a linear relationship（R 2 = 0.9387） with HCHO release in a simulation chamber test.In addition,experiments confirm that it is a synergistic action as T and RH accelerate the release of HCHO,and that is a significant factor influencing indoor HCHO pollution.These achievements could lead to reference values of measures for the efficient reduction of indoor HCHO pollution.
Min GuoXiaoqiang PeiFeifei MoJianlei LiuXueyou Shen
Sonication is a powerful technique to promote the dispersion of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) and enhance their solubility;this is necessary for CNT applications,especially in the biochemical and biomedical fields.In this study,batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the role of sonication energy on the dispersion of CNTs in the presence of a widely used anionic surfactant,sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate(SDBS).It was observed that the concentration of dispersed CNTs in the SDBS solution depended on the sonication energy,but not the sonication time or output power of the sonicator alone.The amount of dispersed CNTs was positively correlated with the concentrations of SDBS and CNTs,and the length of the CNTs.The promotion of oxygen-containing functional groups on the dispersed CNTs was observed at relatively low sonication energies.The optimal energy,i.e.the minimum energy supplied by sonication to achieve a saturated suspension of dispersed CNTs in the SDBS solution,was CNT diameter-dependent,because of the larger vdW forces between tubes of smaller diameter.An exponential decay curve was constructed for the optimal energy values as a function of the outer CNT diameter,to assist in determining the energy needed to disperse CNTs.
YANG KunYI ZiLiJING QingFengYUE RenLiangJIANG WeiLIN DaoHui
The occurrence and fate of hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers（OH-PBDEs） and methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers（Me O-PBDEs） have received significant attention. However, there is limited information on the metabolism relationship between OH-pentaB DEs and MeO-pentaB DEs that were frequently detected with relatively high concentrations in the environment. In this study, the biotransformation between OH-BDE-99 and MeO-BDE-99 was investigated in rice, wheat, and soybean plants. All the three plants can metabolize OH-BDE-99 to corresponding homologous methoxylated metabolites, while the transformation from MeO-BDE-99 to OH-BDE-99 could only be found in soybean. The conversion of parent compounds was the highest in soybean, followed by wheat and rice. Transformation products were found mainly in the roots, with few metabolites being translocated to the shoots and solution after exposure. The results of this study provide valuable information for a better understanding of the accumulation and transformation of OH-PBDEs and MeO-PBDEs in different plants.
