Present technologies for wastewater treatment do not sufficiently address the increasing pollution situation of receiving water bodies, especially with the growing use of personal care products and ...pharmaceuticals (PPCP) in the private household and health sector. The relevance of addressing this problem of organic pollutants was taken into account by the Directive 2013/39/EU that introduced (i) the quality evaluation of aquatic compartments, (ii) the
polluter pays
principle, (iii) the need for innovative and affordable wastewater treatment technologies, and (iv) the identification of pollution causes including a list of principal compounds to be monitored. In addition, a watch list of 10 other substances was recently defined by Decision 2015/495 on March 20, 2015. This list contains, among several recalcitrant chemicals, the painkiller diclofenac and the hormones 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinylestradiol. Although some modern approaches for their removal exist, such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), retrofitting most wastewater treatment plants with AOPs will not be acceptable as consistent investment at reasonable operational cost. Additionally, by-product and transformation product formation has to be considered. The same is true for membrane-based technologies (nanofiltration, reversed osmosis) despite of the incredible progress that has been made during recent years, because these systems lead to higher operation costs (mainly due to higher energy consumption) so that the majority of communities will not easily accept them. Advanced technologies in wastewater treatment like membrane bioreactors (MBR) that integrate biological degradation of organic matter with membrane filtration have proven a more complete elimination of emerging pollutants in a rather cost- and labor-intensive technology. Still, most of the presently applied methods are incapable of removing critical compounds completely. In this opinion paper, the state of the art of European WWTPs is reflected, and capacities of single methods are described. Furthermore, the need for analytical standards, risk assessment, and economic planning is stressed. The survey results in the conclusion that combinations of different conventional and advanced technologies including biological and plant-based strategies seem to be most promising to solve the burning problem of polluting our environment with hazardous emerging xenobiotics.
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•Production of electricity and methane from predried and shredded household food waste (HFW).•11.8 W/m3 was obtained at an HRT of 18 h, using glucose.•For dried HFW, 7.7 W/m3 or ...0.31 MJ/kg TS was obtained.•Energy recovery of 12.32 MJ/kg TS DHFW from both processes.
The valorization of typical household food waste (HFW) produced at municipality level was studied for the production of electricity in a microbial fuel cell (MFC) from its extract, and methane, through anaerobic digestion of the solid extraction residue. HFW, after heat drying and shredding, was subjected to extraction using warm water, which resulted in a liquid fraction (extract) and a solid residue. The rich in soluble chemical oxygen demand extract was used for electricity production in a four air– cathodes single chamber MFC, operating under different organic loading rates, while the solid residue from the extraction process was used as substrate for methane production in biochemical methane potential experiments. On the basis of the energy outputs estimated for the optimum operational conditions of both aforementioned processes, it can be concluded that the exploitation of dried HFW is quite appealing as it leads to promising energy recovery.
Three different chemical oxidation processes were investigated in terms of their capability to degrade organic chemical components of real mature landfill-leachate in combination with biological ...treatment run in a Sequencing Batch Biofilter Granular Reactor (SBBGR). H2O2, H2O2 + UV and O3 were integrated with SBBGR and respective effluents were analyzed and compared with the effluent obtained from biological SBBGR treatment alone. In agreement with their respective oxidative power, conventional bulk parameters (residual COD, TOC, Ntot, TSS) determined from the resulting effluents evidenced the following efficacy ranking for degradation: SBBGR/O3 > SBBGR/UV + H2O2 > SBBGR/H2O2 > SBBGR. A more detailed characterization of the organic compounds was subsequently carried out for the four treated streams. For this, effluents were first subjected to a sample preparation step, allowing for a classification in terms of acidic, basic, strongly acidic and strongly basic compounds, and finally to analysis by liquid chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (LC/HR-MS). This classification, combined with further data post-processing (non-target screening, Venn Diagram, tri-dimensional plot and Principal Component Analysis), evidenced that the SBBGR/H2O2 process is comparable to the pure biological oxidation. In contrast, SBBGR/O3 and SBBGR/UV + H2O2 not only resulted in a very different residual composition as compared to SBBGR and SBBGR/H2O2, but also differ significantly from each other. In fact, and despite of the SBBGR/O3 being the most efficient process, this treatment remained chemically more similar to SBBGR/H2O2 than to SBBGR/UV + H2O2. This finding may be attributable to different mechanism of degradation involved with the use of UV radiation. Apart from these treatment differences, a series of recalcitrant compounds was determined in all of the four treatments and partly identified as hetero-poly-aromatic species (humic acids-like species).
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•A comparative investigation among four oxidation treatments of leachate is reported.•UPLC-HRMS profiles were analyzed with PCA.•Exact masses of recalcitrant compounds after non-target screening were determined.•Classification of compounds was determined according to the four oxidation treatments.•The chemical nature of recalcitrant fractions was widely revealed.
Background and Aims
Global warming can lead to technological ripening occurring in advance of phenolic maturity for red wine cultivars. This study evaluated the effect of post‐budburst winter pruning ...on the phenology, yield components, berry composition and phenolic maturity in Vitis vinifera L. cv. Merlot.
Methods and Results
Mechanically pre‐pruned vines followed up with hand pruning during winter (Control) were compared to vines that were mechanically pre‐pruned and followed up with hand pruning after budburst when distal buds developed shoots with either three unfolded leaves (DF3) or eight unfolded leaves (DF8). Late pruning delayed budburst, flowering and, to a lesser extent, veraison. The delays were greater for DF8 than DF3 treatments. Yield decreased by about 40 and 71% in DF3 and DF8 vines, respectively, while sugar accumulation and reduction of TA were delayed by both pruning treatments. The concentration of anthocyanin and tannin and of extractable anthocyanin and tannin (of skin and seeds analysed separately) were not influenced by the DF3 treatment while tannin concentration increased in DF8 berries.
Conclusions
Delaying hand pruning of mechanically pre‐pruned vines until after budburst of distal nodes can delay technological ripening without affecting the concentration of anthocyanin and tannin of berries. Yield, however, is substantially reduced.
Significance of the Study
We verified the feasibility of a cost‐effective technique that can be adopted to counteract the hastening of sugar accumulation and organic acid decline caused by global warming on valuable black grapes.
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•Lignin represents about 34% of Posidonia oceanica biomass.•Energy balance of thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion is extremely negative.•Acid addition in thermal hydrolysis ...significantly improves the process energy efficiency.
Posidonia oceanica is the most abundant aquatic plant of the Mediterranean Sea where it plays great ecological importance. The accumulation of residues along the shore, however, creates a littering hardship for the territory due to their bad rotting smell and introduces an obstacle to the enjoyment of the beaches and tourist swimming. Posidonia oceanica residues may be valorized producing bioenergy by anaerobic digestion. Due to its high lignin content, however, a pretreatment step is required for enhance energy recovery. In the present study the effects of acid addition in the thermal hydrolysis step were evaluated in terms of energy balance, biogas production and solids reduction. The results obtained have shown that when thermal pretreatment was enhanced by adding hydrochloric acid (0.4% w/w), an improvement in methane production of 575% was obtained compared to thermal pretreatment only with specific biogas production as high as 0.241 ± 0.065 Nm3 per kgVS of wet Posidonia or 0.138 ± 0.056 Nm3 CH4/kgVS. This result was ascribed to the defibration of lignocellulosic components operated by acidic thermal pretreatment which allowed the removal of 74%, 70% and 24% of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, respectively, during anaerobic digestion. The energy analysis carried out for treatment plants with capacity of 10 and 50 m3/d has shown that acid addition in the thermal hydrolysis step allows the energy balance to turn from extremely negative (energy demand is 8 to 10 times greater than the one produced) to positive values, with process energy efficiencies ranging from 22 to 35% with regards to the size of the plant.
In recent years, the demand for biofuels has been growing exponentially, as has the interest in biodiesel produced from organic matrices. Particularly interesting, due to its economic and ...environmental advantages, is the use of the lipids present in sewage sludge as a raw material for the synthesis of biodiesel. The possible processes of this biodiesel synthesis, starting from lipid matter, are represented by the conventional process with sulfuric acid, by the process with aluminium chloride hexahydrate and by processes that use solid catalysts such as those consisting of mixed metal oxides, functionalized halloysites, mesoporous perovskite and functionalized silicas. In literature there are numerous Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies concerning biodiesel production systems, but not many studies consider processes that start from sewage sludge and that use solid catalysts. In addition, no LCA studies were reported on solid acid catalysts nor on those based on mixed metal oxides which present some precious advantages, over the homogeneous analogous ones, such as higher recyclability, prevention of foams and corrosion phenomena, and an easier separation and purification of biodiesel product. This research work reports the results of a comparative LCA study applied to a system that uses a solvent free pilot plant for the extraction and transformation of lipids from sewage sludge via seven different scenarios that differ in the type of catalyst used. The biodiesel synthesis scenario using aluminium chloride hexahydrate as catalyst has the best environmental profile. Biodiesel synthesis scenarios using solid catalysts are worse due to higher methanol consumption which requires higher electricity consumption. The worst scenario is the one using functionalized halloysites. Further future developments of the research require the passage from the pilot scale to the industrial scale in order to obtain environmental results to be used for a more reliable comparison with the literature data.
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•LCA of seven biodiesel synthesis scenarios starting from WWTS•Comparison of conventional production systems with those using solid catalysts•Electricity consumption and production of solid catalysts are the hot spots of the systems.•The aluminium chloride hexahydrate scenario has the best environmental profile.•The scenario based on ZnO@HNT-TAAI halloysites has the worst environmental profile.
Monilinia spp. are responsible for brown rot decay of stone and pome fruit in the field as well as in postharvest. Monilinia laxa and M. fructigena are considered indigenous to Europe, while M. ...fructicola is a quarantine pathogen in the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization area included in the A2 List. In Italy, it was first reported in 2009 in Piedmont (northern Italy) and rapidly spread to central Italy. We carried out a monitoring program on the occurrence of Monilinia spp. in southern Italy and a comparative characterization of the three main fungal pathogens. Molecular assays based on direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time quantitative PCR for molecular identification of Monilinia spp. from rotted fruit were set up, validated, and applied in a monitoring program. Of the tested 519 isolates from 26 orchards, 388 (74.8%) were identified as M. fructicola, 118 (22.7%) as M. laxa, 10 (1.9%) as M. fructigena, and 3 (0.6%) were M. polystroma. M. fructicola colonies grew faster and had a higher optimal temperature for growth (26°C) than M. laxa (23°C) and M. fructigena (20°C). No relevant difference in virulence could be observed on artificially inoculated apricot, cherry, and peach fruit. The fungal species showed different responses to fungicides, because M. fructicola was more sensitive than M. laxa, especially to cyflufenamid, and M. fructigena revealed a lower sensitivity to succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (boscalid, fluopyram, and fluxapyroxad) and quinone outside inhibitors (mandestrobin). In summary, the two species M. fructicola and M. polystroma were first detected in southern Italy where M. fructicola has largely displaced the two indigenous pathogens M. laxa and M. fructigena; the relative proportions of the three pathogens in orchards should be considered when defining the management of brown rot of stone fruit due to differences in their responses to fungicides.
The effect of elicitors on secondary metabolism in vines is receiving much interest, since it has been shown that they are able to increase the accumulation of phenolics, especially anthocyanins. ...This research aims to investigate the biochemical and molecular effects of the application of a commercial yeast derivative (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on the accumulation of anthocyanins in potted Sangiovese vines. Experiments were performed on three consecutive years and the yeast derivative was applied at the beginning and at the end of veraison. Technological ripening, accumulation of anthocyanins and expression of the main genes involved in their biosynthesis were assessed. Technological ripening proceeded in a similar way in both treated and untreated berries in the three years. A significant increase in the concentration of anthocyanins was instead detected, following the induction by the yeast derivative of the expression of the genes involved in their biosynthesis. The research highlights the possibility of applying a specific inactivated yeast to increase the anthocyanin concentration even under the current climate change conditions, in Sangiovese, a cultivar extremely sensitive to high temperatures.
Lung diseases are amongst the main healthcare issues in the general population, having a high burden of morbidity and mortality. The cardiovascular system has a key role in patients affected by ...respiratory disorders. More specifically, the right ventricle (RV) enables the impaired lung function to be overcome in an initial stage of disease process, reducing the severity of dyspnoea. In addition, two of the main causes of death in this setting are RV failure and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Echocardiography is regarded as a useful and easily available tool in assessing RV function. Several noninvasive echocardiographic parameters of elevated pulmonary pressures and RV function have been proposed. The combination of different parameters and imaging methods is paramount and researches regarding RV impairment using these indices has been specifically addressed in relation to the chronic obstructive and restrictive lung disease in order to guide the clinicians in the management of these patients. Cardiac involvement in lung diseases is often observed, and RV changes are reported also in early stages of pulmonary diseases. The role of right ventricle in chronic respiratory disease patients has to be evaluated in detail to describe the response to therapy and the degree of disease progression through multimodality and advanced imaging techniques. The aim of this review is to describe the different pathophysiological mechanisms of cardiac impairment in primary lung disease (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and sarcoidosis) and to summarize the role of cardiac multimodality imaging in the diagnosis and the prognosis of these diseases.
The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a powerful tool for differential diagnosis among a group of pathologies with different therapeutic approaches/prognoses, the so-called J-wave syndrome. The ...vectorcardiogram (VCG) can be used as a complementary method to the ECG in several dubious electrocardiographic alterations.
We carried out a VCG analysis after conceiving and measuring a novel parameter (JT-distance) that allows diagnosis of the Brugada ECG pattern.
A retrospective cohort study selected ninety-six ECGs with J-point elevation in V1/V2, ECG superior leads and VCGs, all performed on the same day. A new VCG measurement by Frank method (JT-distance) was conceived and designed in transverse and right sagittal planes by 3 lines drawn 1) at the final third of the QRS loop, comprehending the J-point; 2) at the initial portion of the T loop; 3) a parallel of the J-point line at the beginning of the T loop. JT measure was determined by the distance between parallels. A validation cohort was established in a new sample of thirty-five patients.
JT-distance ≥1.5 mm (tranverse plane) and JT-distance >1.25 mm, in the sagittal plane, differentiated Brugada type-1 from Brugada type-2, early repolarization and others, with 95% sensitivity and 68% specificity. JT-distance <1.5 mm (transverse plane) and JT >1.25 mm (sagittal plane) had 100% sensitivity and 85% specificity for Brugada type-1 diagnosis. A validation cohort showed very similar Cohen's kappa levels (0.65 and 0.77, test and validation cohorts, respectively), with overlapping 95% confidence intervals.
The novel vectorcardiogram measurement (JT-distance) presented a new diagnostic criterion to identify Brugada pattern. Nevertheless, prospective studies should be performed by other centers to confirm these findings.
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