The use of silica gel prepared by sol-gel method and polyurethane foam as microbial carriers in the continuous degradation of phenol

Artificial inorganic biohybrids: The functional combination of microorganisms and cells with inorganic materials

Biohybrids can be defined as the functional combination of proteins, viable cells or microorganisms with non-biological materials. This article reviews recent findings on the encapsulation of microorganisms and eukaryotic cells in inorganic matrices such as silica gels or cements. The entrapment of biological entities into a support material is of great benefit for processing since the encapsulation matrix protects sensitive cells from shear forces, unfavourable pH changes, or cytotoxic solvents, avoids culture-washout, and simplifies the separation of formed products. After reflecting general aspects of such an immobilization as well as the chemistry of the inorganic matrices, we focused on manufacturing aspects and the application of such biohybrids in biotechnology, medicine as well as in environmental science and for civil engineering purpose.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The encapsulation of living cells and microorganisms became an intensively studied and rapidly expanding research field with manifold applications in medicine, bio- and environmental technology, or civil engineering. Here, the use of silica or cements as encapsulation matrices have the advantage of a higher chemical and mechanical resistance towards harsh environmental conditions during processing compared to their polymeric counterparts. In this perspective, the article gives an overview about the inorganic material systems used for cell encapsulation, followed by reviewing the most important applications. The future may lay in a combination of the currently achieved biohybrid systems with additive manufacturing techniques. In a longer perspective, this would enable the direct printing of cell loaded bioreactor components.

Engineering aspects of immobilized lipases on esterification: A special emphasis of crowding, confinement and diffusion effects

Cross-linked enzyme crystal (CLEC) and sol-gel entrapped pseudomonas sp. lipase were investigated for the esterification of lauric acid with ethanol by considering the effects of reaction conditions on reaction rate. The activation energy for the reaction was estimated to be 1097.58 J/mol and 181.75 J/mol for sol-gel and CLEC entrapped lipase respectively. CLEC lipase exhibited a marginal internal diffusion effect on reaction rate over sol-gel lipases and found to be interesting. The overall reaction mechanism was found to conform to the Ping Pong Bi Bi mechanism. The higher efficiency of sol-gel lipases over CLEC lipases in esterification reaction is mainly due to the combined effects of crowding, confinement and diffusional limitations.

The Repetitive Detection of Toluene with Bioluminescence Bioreporter Pseudomonas putida TVA8 Encapsulated in Silica Hydrogel on an Optical Fiber

Living cells of the lux-based bioluminescent bioreporter Pseudomonas putida TVA8 were encapsulated in a silica hydrogel attached to the distal wider end of a tapered quartz fiber. Bioluminescence of immobilized cells was induced with toluene at high (26.5 mg/L) and low (5.3 mg/L) concentrations. Initial bioluminescence maxima were achieved after >12 h. One week after immobilization, a biofilm-like layer of cells had formed on the surface of the silica gel. This resulted in shorter response times and more intensive bioluminescence maxima that appeared as rapidly as 2 h after toluene induction. Considerable second bioluminescence maxima were observed after inductions with 26.5 mg toluene/L. The second and third week after immobilization the biosensor repetitively and semiquantitatively detected toluene in buffered medium. Due to silica gel dissolution and biofilm detachment, the bioluminescent signal was decreasing 20-32 days after immobilization and completely extinguished after 32 days. The reproducible formation of a surface cell layer on the wider end of the tapered optical fiber can be translated to various whole cell bioluminescent biosensor devices and may serve as a platform for in-situ sensors.

Sol-gel immobilization as a suitable technique for enhancement of α-amylase activity of Aspergillus oryzae PP

Bioencapsulation of microbial cells in silica-based matrices has proved to be a good strategy to enhance the biosynthetic capabilities and viability of bioproducers. In the present study, mycelium and pellet cultures of strain Aspergillus oryzae PP were successfully immobilized in sol–gel hybrid matrices composed of tetraethylorthosilicate as an inorganic precursor, 5% (w/v) starch and 10 or 15% (w/v) polyethylene oxide, or 10% (w/v) calcium alginate as organic compounds. Biosynthetic activity of immobilized cultures was investigated by batch and fed-batch cultivation and the obtained results of 3042.04 IU cm⁻³ were comparable with the enzyme activity of the free cell culture. Immobilized cultures retained their viability and biosynthetic capabilities up to the 744th h during fed-batch fermentation processes. Consequently, sol–gel encapsulation in hybrid matrices could be considered as a promising technique for immobilization of Aspergillus oryzae PP in order to increase the α-amylase production.

Strategies based on silica monoliths for removing pollutants from wastewater effluents: a review

Silica monoliths have been used for more than half a century in a wide variety of applications, such as stationary phases for microextraction fibers, capillary columns for chromatography, in the encapsulation of biomolecules for affinity chromatography and for microfluidic or microarray chips and, more recently, and less well known for wastewater treatment. The main objective of this review article is to specifically overview the strategies that use silica monoliths for the removal of chemical pollutants from wastewater effluents or prepared solutions. The discussion of advantages and drawbacks of such strategies will be supported with the main studies carried out so far which have been performed in laboratory environment only. The application and potential research interest in several strategies using composites and biocomposites based silica monoliths as cleaning systems are also discussed.

Organosilica composite for preconcentration of phenolic compounds from aqueous solutions

A new adsorbent is proposed for the solid-phase extraction of phenol and 1-naphthol from polluted water. The adsorbent (TX-SiO(2)) is an organosilica composite made from a bifunctional immobilized layer comprising a major fraction (91%) of hydrophilic diol groups and minor fraction (9%) of the amphiphilic long-chain nonionic surfactant Triton X-100 (polyoxyethylated isooctylphenol) (TX). Under static conditions phenol was quantitatively extracted onto TX-SiO(2) in the form of a 4-nitrophenylazophenolate ion associate with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The capacity of TX-SiO(2) for phenol is 2.4 mg g(-1) with distribution coefficients up to 3.4 x 10(4) mL g(-1); corresponding data for 1-naphthol are 1.5 mg g(-1) and 3 x 10(3) mL g(-1). The distribution coefficient does not change significantly for solution volumes of 0.025-0.5 L and adsorbent mass less than 0.03 g; 1-90 microg analyte can be easily eluted by 1-3 mL acetonitrile with an overall recovery of 98.2% and 78.3% for phenol and 1-naphthol, respectively. Linear correlation between acetonitrile solution absorbance (A(540)) and phenol concentration (C) in water was found according to the equation A(540) = (6 +/- 1) x 10(-2) + (0.9 +/- 0.1) C (micromol L(-1)) with a detection range from 1 x 10(-8) mol L(-1) (0.9 microL g(-1)) to 2 x 10(-7) mol L(-1) (19 microL g(-1)), a limit of quantification of 1 microL g(-1) (preconcentration factor 125), correlation coefficient of 0.936, and relative standard deviation of 2.5%. A solid-phase colorimetric method was developed for quantitative determination of 1-naphthol on adsorbent phase using scanner technology and RGB numerical analysis. The detection limit of 1-naphthol with this method is 6 microL g(-1) while the quantification limit is 20 microL g(-1). A test system was developed for naked eye monitoring of 1-naphthol impurities in water. The proposed test kit allows one to observe changes in the adsorbent color when 1-naphthol concentration in water is 0.08-3.2 mL g(-1).

Immobilized viable microbial cells: from the process to the proteome… or the cart before the horse

Biotechnological processes based on immobilized viable cells have developed rapidly over the last 30 years. For a long time, basic studies of the physiological behaviour of immobilized cells (IC) have remained in the shadow of the applications. Natural IC structures, i.e. biofilms, are being increasingly investigated at the cellular level owing to their definite importance for human health and in various areas of industrial and environmental relevance. This review illustrates this paradoxical development of research on ICs, starting from the initial rationale for IC emergence and main application fields of the technology--with particular emphasis on those that exploit the extraordinary resistance of ICs to antimicrobial compounds--to recent advances in the proteomic approach of IC physiology.

Kinetics of phenol oxidation by Candida tropicalis: effects of oxygen supply rate and nutrients on phenol inhibition

The kinetics of phenol degradation was estimated in a fed-batch reactor system. Effects of oxygen and nutrient excess or limitation as well as the presence of several essential ions on the phenol- and oxygen-specific uptake rates achieved simultaneously in a bioreactor were shown. Candida tropicalis was grown on phenol as the only carbon and energy source. Applying the best fit of polynomial function, the maximum specific uptake rates of phenol and oxygen, the critical concentrations of phenol, the half-saturation constants and inhibition constants were determined. Linear relationship between specific phenol uptake rate and the exogenous respiration rate was found regardless of the kind and presence of essential nutrients. At oxygen limitation both the phenol uptake rate and the cell affinity to phenol decreased more strongly compared with those under nutrient limitation. Oxygen in excess resulted in a significant increase of cell tolerance toward phenol. The presence of essential nutrients increased the specific phenol degradation rate and led to complete phenol oxidation.