The possibility of removing bisphenol A and its five potential substitutes (bisphenols S, F, AF, E, and B) was tested using microorganism consortia from river water and activated sludge from ...municipal and rural wastewater treatment plants. For most bisphenols, biodegradation with activated sludge was faster than with river water and a greater extent of biodegradation was also achieved. However, only bisphenol A and bisphenol F underwent 100% primary biodegradation while other bisphenols degraded no more than about 50% which has some important implications in case of their increased usage. Metabolic activity in biodegradation liquors was also tested and it showed higher activity in the tests with activated sludge than with river water. However, there was no clear connection between the decline of metabolic activity and the extent of biodegradation as decreased activity was observed for two easily degrading bisphenols and two others with little biodegradability. It can be assumed that two different phenomena are involved in this process including depletion of nutrients for easily degradable bisphenol A and absence of nutrients for bacteria incapable of primary degradation of bisphenol AF and bisphenol S.
Nettle is a common plant that offers many health benefits and is grown all over the world. The content of active compounds in roots, stems, and leaves was determined based on the extraction procedure ...optimized using the Central Composite Design. Flavonols, phenolic acids, trigonelline, nicotinamide, nicotinic acids, and short-chain organic acids were determined with the use of LC–MS/MS and capillary isotachophoresis. Trigonelline, which was not previously reported in the roots and stems of nettle, was found in all parts of the plant and considerable variations in its content were observed (2.8–108 µg g−1). Furthermore, the Principal Component Analysis taking into account more variables demonstrated differences in the content of bioactive components between roots and aerial parts of nettle.
We propose and demonstrate a method for measuring the spectral density matrix of a single photon pulse. The method is based on registering Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between a photon to be measured ...and a pair of attenuated and suitably delayed laser pulses described by a known spectral amplitude. The density matrix is retrieved from a two-dimensional interferogram of coincidence counts. The method has been implemented for a type-I down-conversion source, pumped by ultrashort laser pulses. The experimental results agree well with a theoretical model which takes into account the temporal as well as spatial effects in the source.
Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Therefore, this study analyzed 49 coffee samples of Arabica and Robusta species of different geographical origins and the treatment of beans ...including three degrees of roasting with the use of LC-MS/MS. This is the first study to present a comprehensive analysis of Kopi Luwak coffee brew metabolites in comparison to fully washed coffees and the drying post-harvest treatment of Arabica or Robusta coffee brews. Kopi Luwak showed higher levels of caffeine and theophylline in comparison to the analyzed washed and unwashed Arabica coffees, as well as a different proportion of caffeoylquinic isomers. There was no difference between Kopi Luwak and other Arabica coffees in terms of the concentration of vitamin B
, amines, and phenolic acids. This was confirmed in PCA. The steaming and roasting of beans as well as the addition of black beans influence the concentration of 4-CQA and the nicotinic, ferulic, and quinic acids content.
In this work, a composite material based on titanium(IV) oxide and iron(II,III) oxide was prepared using mechanothermal method. The obtained composite system was thoroughly characterized using ...techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and nanoparticle tracking analysis. The acute toxicity of the composite material was evaluated with Microtox. In addition, the material’s photocatalytic potential was studied in photodegradation tests of ibuprofen. The composite system revealed magnetic properties of potential usage in its recovery after photocatalytic tests. However, the photocatalytic activity of TiO2–Fe3O4 was lower than that of bare TiO2. In the photocatalytic tests performed under UV (365 nm) light, a 44% reduction of initial ibuprofen concentration in the sample was noted for bare TiO2, while for TiO2–Fe3O4 composite, only a 19% reduction was observed. In visible light (525 nm), both materials achieved statistically insignificant photodegradation rates, which was contrary to the anticipated effect for TiO2–Fe3O4. The observation was explained by a side oxidation reaction of Fe3O4 to Fe2O3 by the generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the photocatalytic process, which significantly diminished the amount of available ROS for ibuprofen degradation. The oxidation process appearing within TiO2–Fe3O4 was evident and easily observed as the color of the material turned from gray to brown. Acute toxicity assay performed with the use of Microtox revealed reduced toxicity of TiO2–Fe3O4 (32% inhibition of the Aliivibrio fischeri bacteria cell viability according to bioluminescence emitted) when compared to bare Fe3O4 (56% inhibition), whereas bare TiO2 was non-toxic. In the study, the processes occurring during the photocatalytic reaction were analyzed and discussed in the context of the available literature data.
The paper describes the construction, operation and test results of three most popular interpolators from a viewpoint of time-interval (TI) measurement systems consisting of many tapped-delay lines ...(TDLs) and registering pulses of a wide-range changeable intensity. The comparison criteria include the maximum intensity of registered time stamps (TSs), the dependency of interpolator characteristic on the registered TSs’ intensity, the need of using either two counters or a mutually-complementing pair counter-register for extending a measurement range, the need of calculating offsets between TDL inputs and the dependency of a resolution increase on the number of used TDL segments. This work also contains conclusions about a range of applications, usefulness and methods of employing each described TI interpolator. The presented experimental results bring new facts that can be used by the designers who implement precise time delays in the field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA).
The natural environment is constantly under threat from man-made pollution. More and more pharmaceuticals are recognized as emerging pollutants due to their growing concentration in the environment. ...One such chemical is ibuprofen which has been detected in processed sewage. The ineffectiveness of water methods treatment currently used raises the need for new remediation techniques, one of such is photodegradation of pollutants. In the present study, zinc(II) and copper(II) phthalocyanines were grafted onto pure anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (5 and 15 nm) to form photocatalysts for photodecomposition of ibuprofen in water. The nanoparticles were subjected to physicochemical characterization, including: thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis and particle size measurements. In addition, they were assessed by means of electron spin resonance spectroscopy to evaluate the free radical generation. The materials were also tested for their photocatalytic activity under either UV (365 nm) or visible light (665 nm) irradiation. After 6 h of irradiation, almost complete removal of ibuprofen under UV light was observed, as assessed by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The reaction kinetics calculations revealed that the copper(II) phthalocyanine-containing nanoparticles were acting at a faster rate than those with zinc(II) derivative. The solutions after the photoremediation experiments were subjected to Microtox® acute toxicity analysis.
Most systems used in quantum physics experiments require the efficient and simultaneous recording different multi-photon coincidence detection events. In such experiments, the single-photon gated ...counting systems can be applicable. The main sources of errors in these systems are both instability of the clock source and their imperfect synchronization with the excitation source. Below, we propose a solution for improvement of the metrological parameters of such measuring systems. Thus, we designed a novel integrated circuit dedicated to registration of signals from a photon number resolving detectors including a phase synchronizer module. This paper presents the architecture of a high-resolution (~60 ps) digital phase synchronizer module cooperating with a multi-channel coincidence counter. The main characteristic feature of the presented system is its ability to fast synchronization (requiring only one clock period) with the measuring process. Therefore, it is designed to work with various excitation sources of a very wide frequency range. Implementation of the phase synchronizer module in an FPGA device enabled to reduce the synchronization error value from 2.857 ns to 214.8 ps.
Due to the rapid growth in quantities of phenolic compounds in wastewater, the development of efficient and environmentally friendly methods for their removal becomes a necessity. Thus, in a ...presented work, for the first time, a novel material, Hippospongia communis spongin-based scaffold, was used as a biopolymeric support for the immobilization of laccase from Trametes versicolor. The resulting biocatalytic systems were used for the biodegradation of three bisphenols: bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol F (BPF) and bioremoval-resistant bisphenol S (BPS). Optimization of the immobilization and biodegradation methodologies was performed to increase bisphenols removal. The effect of temperature, pH and initial pollutant concentration was evaluated. It was shown that under optimal conditions, almost 100% of BPA (pH5, 30°C) and BPF (pH5, 40°C), and over 40% of BPS (pH4, 30°C) was removed from the solution at a concentration of 2mg/mL. Furthermore, the immobilized laccase exhibited good reusability and storage stability, retaining over 80% of its initial activity after 50days of storage. In addition, the main biodegradation products of BPA and BPF were identified. It was shown that mainly dimers and trimers were formed following the oxidation of bisphenols by the immobilized laccase.
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•Application of H. communis scaffolds as effective support for laccase immobilization.•Enhancement of the pH, temperature and storage stability of immobilized laccase.•Evaluation of optimal biodegradation conditions for the highest removal efficiency.•Formation of dimers and trimers as main products of bisphenols enzymatic oxidation.•Degradation over 95% of bisphenol A and bisphenol F at pH5 and temperature of 30°C.
For years, scientists have been trying to develop sustainable, environmentally friendly methods of extraction and determination of trace environmental pollutants that take into account the principles ...of Green Analytical Chemistry (GAC). It is important to save energy and time, minimize and automate individual stages of sample preparation for determination, and significantly reduce or completely eliminate harmful wastes and solvents from the analytical procedure. Therefore, there is continuous development and increase in the popularity of solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique and its derivative techniques in the “micro” form, such as dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction (d-μSPE), magnetic dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction (M-d-μSPE), bar adsorption microextraction (BAμE), rotating disk sorption extraction (RDSE), fabric phase sorption extraction (FPSE), solid phase microextraction (SPME), thin film microextraction (TFME). An important and noticeable trend in recent years has been the search for efficient sorbents based on natural compounds.
This review discusses the possibilities of using natural products (cork, cotton, pollen, kapok, bamboo, sponge, algae, various seeds) and biowastes (coffee residues, bracts and peels of various fruits) as sorbents in the above-mentioned solid-phase techniques.
These natural materials have fibrous or porous structure, which facilitates sorption of analytes. They also have functional groups necessary for the extraction of selected analytes or may be easily modified to contain such groups. Many of 106 articles described in this review show that sorbents based on natural materials are as good as commercially available synthesized sorbents while being more friendly to the environment.
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•The use of natural materials and biowastes in (micro)extractions have been reviewed.•Natural products included: cork, cotton, pollen, kapok, bamboo, sponge, algae, seeds.•Biowastes described included: coffee residues, bracts and peels of various fruits.
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