Chemical pesticides have been providing the crop protection required to help satisfy the world demand for food, feed, and fiber. Biopesticides (BPs), particularly fungi-based BPs, are a promising new ...alternative with high biodegradability and specificity, low likelihood of resistance development, suitability for incorporation into integrated pest management practices, and practically no known health risks. However, unsuitable mass production procedures, narrow action spectra, heterogeneous performance, and short shelf life combined with legislation registry constraints, end-user resistance, and general lack of knowledge are slowing their adoption. In addition to regulatory framework revisions and improved training initiatives, thoughtfully designed formulations, improved preservation methodologies, and field test validations are needed to offer new BPs with improved efficacy and increased shelf life. This overview compiles current and novel fungi-based BP applications for crop and animal pest control with a focus on formulation approaches aiming at retaining efficacy and improving shelf life. Innovative formulation approaches, emerging pest control technologies, and BP challenges and opportunities are also included.
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Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) refers to the uptake of carbon (C) containing substances from the atmosphere and its storage in soil C pools. Soil microbial community (SMC) play a major role in C ...cycling and their activity has been considered as the main driver of differences in the potential to store C in soils. The composition of the SMC is crucial for the maintenance of soil ecosystem services, as the structure and activity of SMC also regulates the turnover and delivery of nutrients, as well as the rate of decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM). Quantifying the impact of agricultural practices on both SMC and SCS is key to improve sustainability of soil management. Hence, we discuss the impact of farming practices improving SCS by altering SMC, SOM, and soil aggregates, unraveling their inter-and intra-relationships. Using quantitative and process driven insights from 197 peer-reviewed publications leads to the conclusion that the net benefits from agricultural management to improve SCS would not be sustainable if we overlook the role of soil microbial community. Reintroduction of the decayed microbial community to agricultural soils is crucial for enhancing long-term C storage potential of soils and stabilize them over time. The interactions among SMC, SOM, soil aggregates, and agricultural activities still require more knowledge and research to understand their full contribution to the SCS.
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•Soil microbial community (SMC) is the heart of soil carbon sequestration (SCS).•SMC regulates soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition and transformation.•Soil aggregates and SOM determines the rate of SCS.•Reintroduction of decayed SMC under different agricultural systems would ensure sustainability in long-term C storage.
Nowadays, dairy waste represents a global challenge as a result of the amount produced worldwide. Initially, one of the major objectives was to transform this waste into a single valuable product, ...but recently the concept of biorefinery has been applied to convert dairy waste into several valuable bioproducts such as biofuels, feed additives, bioplastics, and chemicals. Despite the potential that represents this kind of waste for the production of bioproducts, it is not a technology used extensively. An important factor that can help to become the biorefinery of dairy waste more attractive is the measure of the biorefinery complexity index (BCI). The BCI is a measure of the technological and economic risk to develop a biorefinery process using specific raw materials, production, extraction and purification processes. Our analysis of a dairy biorefinery gives a BCI of 20, which reflects a sustainable biorefinery. The dairy biorefinery synergistic approach predicted presents a zero-waste generation in the dairy industry. This will provide strength in academic and industrial level towards a biorefinery process design.
•Development of biorefinery will contribute to diversification of byproducts and sustainable utilization of dairy waste.•The BCI is a measure of the technological and economic risk to develop a biorefinery process.•Lower the BCI higher is the process feasibility.•Analysis of a dairy biorefinery gives a BCI of 20, which reflect a sustainable biorefinery.•This attempt will provide a viable process for decision makes and world-wide algal industry.
Due to unrestricted entry of wastewater into the environment and the transportation of microbial contaminants to humans and organisms, environmental protection requires the use of appropriate ...purification systems with high removal efficiency for microbial agents are needed. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of current wastewater treatment systems in removing microbes and their contaminants.
A systematic review was conducted for all articles published in 5 Iranian environmental health journals in 11 years. The data were collected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and by searching the relevant keywords in the articles published during the years (2008-2018), with emphasis on the efficacy of wastewater treatment systems in removing microbial agents. Qualitative data were collected using a preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyzes (PRISMA) standard checklist. After confirming the quality of the articles, information such as the name of the first author and the year of publication of the research, the type of study, the number of samples, the type of purification, the type of microbial agents and the rate of removal of microbial agents were entered into the checklist. Also the removal rates of the microbial agents mentioned in the studies were compared with united states environmental protection agency (US-EPA) standards.
In this study, 1468 articles retrieved from 118 issues of 5 environmental health journals were reviewed. After reviewing the quality of the articles in accordance with the research objectives, 14 articles were included in the study that were published between 2010 and 2018. In most studies, two main indicators Total coliforms and Fecal coliforms in wastewater were investigated. Removing fungi and viral contamination from wastewater was not found in any of the 14 studies. Different systems (activated sludge, stabilization ponds, wetlands, and low and medium pressure UV disinfection systems were used to remove microbial agents in these studies. Most articles used active sludge systems to remove Total coliforms and Fecal coliforms, which in some cases were not within the US-EPA standard. The removal of Cysts and Parasitic eggs was only reporte from stabilization pond systems (SPS) where removal efficiency was found in accordance with US-EPA standards.
Different types of activated sludge systems have higher efficacy to remove microbial agents and are more effective than other mentioned systems in removing the main indicators of sewage contamination including Total coliforms and Fecal coliforms. However, inappropriate operation, maintenance and inadequate handling of activated sludge can also reduce its efficiency and reduce the removal of microbial agents, which was reported in some studies. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct research on how to improve the operation, maintenance, and proper management of activated sludge systems to transfer knowledge to users of sludge systems and prevent further health issues related to microbial agents.
Herein, an effort has been made to highlight the trends of the state-of-the-art of laccase-assisted degradation of emerging contaminants at large and endocrine disruptors in particular. Since first ...described in the 19th century, laccase has received particular interest for inter- and multidisciplinary investigations due to its uniqueness and remarkable biotechnological applicability. There has always been a paramount concern over the widespread occurrences of various pollutant types, around the globe. Therefore, pollution free processes are gaining ground all over the world. With ever increasing scientific knowledge, socioeconomic awareness, human health-related issues and ecological apprehensions, people are more concerned about the widespread environmental pollutants. In this context, the occurrences of newly identified pollutants so-called “emerging contaminants – ECs” in our main water bodies is of continued and burning concern worldwide. Undoubtedly, various efforts have already been made to tackle this challenging ECs concern though using different approaches including physical and chemical, however, each has considerable limitations. In this review, we present information on how laccase-assisted approach can change this limited tendency of physical and chemical based approaches. A special focus has been given to the laccase-assisted systems including pristine laccase, laccase-mediator catalyzed system and immobilized-laccase catalyzed system that promotes the endocrine disruptors removal. Towards the end, a list of outstanding questions and research gaps are given that can pave the way for future studies.
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•State-of-the-art of laccase-assisted degradation of endocrine disruptors (EDs) is reviewed.•The governmental policies from a regulatory perspective are briefly discussed.•Potential sources, fate and degradation pathways of EDs are figuratively presented.•Economic and environmental net benefits of the laccase-assisted systems are positive.•A list of outstanding questions and research gaps are given that can pave the way for future studies.
Diatoms are a type of microalgae with diverse capabilities which make them useful for multiple applications. The abundance of diatoms in water bodies facilitates the removal of pollutants from ...wastewater originating from different industries, such as agriculture and other anthropogenic sources. The unique photosynthetic, cellular and metabolic characteristics of diatoms allows them to utilize pollutants like nitrate, iron, phosphate, molybdenum, silica, and heavy metals, such as copper, cadmium, chromium, lead, etc., which make diatoms a good option for wastewater treatment. In addition, the biomass produced by diatoms growth on wastewaters has diverse applications and can, therefore, be valuable. This review focusses on the unique capabilities of diatoms for wastewater remediation and the capture of carbon dioxide, concomitant with the generation of valuable products. Diatom biorefinery can be a sustainable solution to wastewater management, and the biomass obtained from treatment can be turned into biofuels, biofertilizers, nutritional supplements for animal production, and used for pharmaceutical applications containing bioactive compounds like EPA, DHA and pigments such as fucoxanthin.
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•Diatom algae are highly diverse and significant in the aquatic food web.•Diatoms possess the metabolic efficacy to remediate diverse wastewaters.•The growth of diatom facilitates in quenching the wastewater pollutants.•Diatom based wastewater remediation can be a sustainable.
Environmental pollution is a critical issue that requires proper measures to maintain environmental health in a sustainable and effective manner. The growing persistence of several active ...pharmaceutical residues, such as antibiotics like tetracycline, and anti-inflammatory drugs like diclofenac in water matrices is considered an issue of global concern. Numerous sewage/drain waste lines from the domestic and pharmaceutical sector contain an array of toxic compounds, so-called “emerging pollutants” and possess adverse effects on entire living ecosystem and damage its biodiversity. Therefore, effective solution and preventive measures are urgently required to sustainably mitigate and/or remediate pharmaceutically active emerging pollutants from environmental matrices. In this context, herein, the entry pathways of the pharmaceutical waste into the environment are presented, through the entire lifecycle of a pharmaceutical product. There is no detailed review available on carbon-dots (CDs) as robust materials with multifunctional features that support sustainable mitigation of emerging pollutants from water matrices. Thus, CDs-based photocatalysts are emerging as an efficient alternative for decontamination by pharmaceutical pollutants. The addition of CDs on photocatalytic systems has an important role in their performance, mainly because of their up-conversion property, transfer photoinduced electron capacities, and efficient separation of electrons and holes. In this review, we analyze the strategies followed by different researchers to optimize the photodegradation of various pharmaceutical pollutants. In this manner, the effect of different parameters such as pH, the dosage of photocatalyst, amount of carbon dots, and initial pollutant concentration, among others are discussed. Finally, current challenges are presented from a pollution prevention perspective and from CDs-based photocatalytic remediation perspective, with the aim to suggest possible research directions.
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•Pollution is a critical issue that requires significant efforts to green the environment.•The trends in carbon dots-based photocatalysts from the past decade are scrutinized.•Sustainable mitigation strategies for highly hazardous toxins are given.•Several active pharmaceutical residues in water are pollutants of concern.
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•Phenolics are natural plant secondary metabolites.•They are antimicrobial and antioxidant like preservatives.•Microbial metabolic engineering allows sustainable production.•Phenolics ...have been produced by microbial engineering.•Recent progress on their functional food applications are reviewed.
Phenolics are a class of plant-derived natural secondary metabolites with good anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. In addition to being natural health-benefit compounds abundant in food, phenolic compounds may also have the potential to be ideal food additives and preservatives. Unlike the traditional plant extraction and chemical biosynthesis methods, metabolic engineering of microbes provides a possible way to sustainably produce phenolic compounds on a large scale, with high commercial availability and low environmental impact. In the last decade, many phenolic compounds have been successfully synthesized and optimized in the model organisms, especially in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this review, the recent efforts on their sustainable biosynthesis of phenolic compounds for functional food applications are systematically introduced and discussed.
During the past years, the ecological integrity and biodiversity of marine ecosystems have been highly threatened due to the controlled or uncontrolled release of high concentrations of pollutants ...generated through anthropogenic activities. The occurrence of environmentally related hazardous pollutants, such as toxic elements, and recalcitrant compounds in various environmental matrices has raised increasing concern. Different technologies have been developed for efficient removal and complete mitigation or degradation of these toxic elements from the aquatic environment. Among them, biosorption and bioaccumulation by renewable and biodegradable sources are of supreme interest and have not been reviewed much. For instance, the invasive seaweed Sargassum sp. has been spotted as a cost-effective natural material to capture targeted pollutants from the coastal ecosystem, which is currently becoming a pressing problem, around the globe, due to its unusual proliferation near tropical shores. This review is an effort to cover the left behind gap to present the multifunctional potentialities of Sargassum sp. biomass. Herein, salient information is given to highlight the potential of Sargassum sp. biomass for environmental decontamination with particular focus to coastal ecosystems. Bioremediation mechanisms, challenges of implementation and factors involved in adsorption and absorption of pollutants by seaweeds are also discussed in this review. Against this background, a circular economy perspective is given for the integrated use of the algal raw material. The up-taken pollutants can be recovered and reintegrated into the value chain of industrial processes, while residual biomass is refined to obtain added-value products as bioactive compounds with potential applications for biofuel, agriculture, cosmetics, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical industries among others, to make the most of renewable resources.
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•Sargassum sp. biomass - potential to tackle the pollution in coastal ecosystems.•Biosorption and bioaccumulation of pollutants by Sargassum sp. biomass are discussed.•Factors affecting the algal-based bioremediation are highlighted with suitable examples.•The circular economy approach is given to value the waste in a sustainable manner.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems worldwide. Efforts in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) cannot keep stride with infection rates, especially during peaks. A strong ...international collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU), Tec de Monterrey (TEC), and Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey (Local Water Utilities) is acting to integrate wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of SARS-CoV-2 in the region as a complementary approach to aid the healthcare system. Wastewater was collected from four sewer catchments in the Monterrey Metropolitan area in Mexico (pop. 4,643,232) from mid-April 2020 to February 2021 (44 weeks, n = 644). Raw wastewater was filtered and filter-concentrated, the RNA was extracted using columns, and the Charité/Berlin protocol was used for the RT-qPCR. The viral loads obtained between the first (June 2020) and second waves (February 2021) of the pandemic were similar; in contrast, the clinical cases were fewer during the first wave, indicating poor coverage. During the second wave of the pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 quantification in wastewater increased 14 days earlier than the COVID-19 clinical cases reported. This is the first long-term WBE study in Mexico and demonstrates its value in pandemic management.
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