Trichosporon fermentans biomass flocculation from soybean oil refinery wastewater using bioflocculant produced from Paecilomyces sp. M2-1

Heterologous Expression of CFL1 Confers Flocculating Ability to Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus Lipid-Rich Cells

Lipid extraction from microbial and microalgae biomass requires the separation of oil-rich cells from the production media. This downstream procedure represents a major bottleneck in biodiesel production, increasing the cost of the final product. Flocculation is a rapid and cheap system for removing solid particles from a suspension. This natural characteristic is displayed by some microorganisms due to the presence of lectin-like proteins (called flocculins/adhesins) in the cell wall. In this work, we showed, for the first time, that the heterologous expression of the adhesin Cfl1p endows the oleaginous species Cutaneotrichosporon oleaginosus with the capacity of cell flocculation. We used Helm's test to demonstrate that the acquisition of this trait allows for reducing the time required for the separation of lipid-rich cells from liquid culture by centrifugation without altering the productivity. This improves the lipid production process remarkably by providing a more efficient downstream.

Computational fluid dynamics analysis of Trichosporon fermentans flocculation in refined soybean oil wastewater and flocculation rate prediction method

Trichosporon fermentans can be used to treat refined soybean oil wastewater (RSOW) and produce microbial lipids. Bioflocculation is an effective method to recover Trichosporon fermentans which accumulates intracellular oils from wastewater. During the flocculation, the hydrodynamic distribution and parameters in the reactor are important limiting factors of yeast flocculation performance. In a 0.25 L flocculation device, it was found that the appropriate range of turbulence kinetic energy was within 0.00065-0.00073 m²/s², the dissipation rate was within 0.119-0.317 m²/s³, and the shear force was less than 0.433 Pa by computational fluid dynamics. In this case, the flocculation rate (Fr) of Trichosporon fermentans could reach more than 90%. The empirical formula associated Fr of Trichosporon fermentans with hydrodynamic parameters was obtained by Matlab, and improved in the enlargement of flocculation device, displaying an error of less than 3.03%. A conical draft tube airlift circulating reactor for flocculation was designed based on the empirical formula, and the Fr reached 91.3%. The study shows that it is feasible to predict Fr of Trichosporon fermentans according to hydrodynamic parameters by numerical simulation, and design the industrial reactor for flocculation harvesting yeasts. It is also helpful for large-scale treatment of RSOW in a safe environment.

Recent advances and perspectives in efforts to reduce the production and application cost of microbial flocculants

Microbial flocculants are macromolecular substances produced by microorganisms. Due to its non-toxic, harmless, and biodegradable advantages, microbial flocculants have been widely used in various industrial fields, such as wastewater treatment, microalgae harvest, activated sludge dewatering, heavy metal ion adsorption, and nanoparticle synthesis, especially in the post-treatment process of fermentation with high safety requirement. However, compared with the traditional inorganic flocculants and organic polymeric flocculants, the high production cost is the main bottleneck that restricts the large-scale production and application of microbial flocculants. To reduce the production cost of microbial flocculant, a series of efforts have been carried out and some exciting research progresses have been achieved. This paper summarized the research advances in the last decade, including the screening of high-yield strains and the construction of genetically engineered strains, search of cheap alternative medium, the extraction and preservation methods, microbial flocculants production as an incidental product of other biological processes, combined use of traditional flocculant and microbial flocculant, and the production of microbial flocculant promoted by inducer. Moreover, this paper prospects the future research directions to further reduce the production cost of microbial flocculants, thereby promoting the industrial production and large-scale application of microbial flocculants.

Bacterial cellulose as an oleaginous yeast cell carrier for soybean oil refinery effluent treatment and pyrolysis oil production

Bacterial cellulose produced from soybean oil refinery effluent is a good immobilization carrier because of the large pores in its fiber network, its high water-holding capacity, and its good biocompatibility. In this study, it was applied to immobilization of oleaginous yeasts for treating soybean oil refinery effluent. The immobilization percentage reached 50%, and the removal of chemical oxygen demand and oil content reached 92.1% and 93.1%, respectively, during dynamic immobilization using a mass percentage of bacterial cellulose of 30% and an immobilization time of 24 h, which were significantly higher than those of free oleaginous yeasts or yeasts immobilized by bacterial cellulose from rich medium. The immobilized oleaginous yeasts facilitated the recovery of the yeasts and effectively treated three batches of soybean oil refinery effluent. The immobilized oleaginous yeasts recovered after soybean oil refinery effluent treatment were pyrolyzed to produce bio-oil, which contributed to more alkanes and a higher calorific value of bio-oil in the pyrolysis products as compared to those of free oleaginous yeasts. As bacterial cellulose used as an oleaginous yeast cell carrier is produced from soybean oil refinery effluent, no waste of immobilization materials is involved and an efficient waste-into-oil bioprocess is developed.

Energy-saving preparation of a bioflocculant under high-salt condition by using strain Bacillus sp. and the interaction mechanism towards heavy metals

A highly efficient bioflocculant, i.e., Na-Bsp was successfully prepared by using a tolerant strain-Bacillus sp. under high-salt condition without sterilization. Salt-containing medium was not infected by other strains throughout the whole incubation period in 168 h. The as-prepared Na-Bsp was found to be cation-dependent, exhibiting high flocculant efficiency (FE) i.e., 97.69 ± 0.61%, towards kaolin particles by aid of Fe³⁺. High FE values were well maintained under a wide pH range and/or boiled water treatment, likely because of the main constituent of polysaccharide. The presence of hydroxyl, carboxyl, and amine groups on the bioflocculant surface were possibly responsible for strong interactions with heavy metals. The adsorption capacities of Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺ and Cr⁶⁺ were 1000.0, 434.8 and 384.6 mg g^-1, respectively. The changing of structure and configuration of bioflocculant during the metal adsorption were explored by the scanning electron microscope with electron energy loss spectroscopy and three-dimensional excitation-emission fluorescence spectrometry. This study provided a novel production method, whereby the conventional sterilization could be avoided, which is of great environmental significance for steam-saving. Furthermore, the as-prepared Na-Bsp exhibited high adsorption capacities toward heavy metals, which sheds lights on its potential usage as an alternative adsorbent.

Application progress of enhanced coagulation in water treatment

Water industries worldwide consider coagulation/flocculation to be one of the major treatment methods for improving the overall efficiency and cost effectiveness of water and wastewater treatment. Enhancing the coagulation process is currently a popular research topic. In this review article, the latest developments in enhanced coagulation are summarized. In addition, the mechanisms of enhanced coagulation and the effect of process parameters on processing efficiency are discussed from the perspective of ballast-enhanced coagulation, preoxidation, ultrasound, and composite coagulants. Finally, improvements and new directions for enhanced coagulation are proposed.

This review summarizes the current situation of enhanced coagulation and looks forward to future development.