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Phenol and nitrate are two major pollutants simultaneously occurring in several industrial wastewaters. In this study, a 110-day gradual enrichment of an anaerobic culture has been carried out at 25°C in an anaerobic bioreactor for continuously treating a synthetic wastewater containing 600 mg/L phenol and 430 mg/L NO3-–N. The results showed that the enriched culture can utilize phenol as a sole electron donor and nitrate as a sole electron acceptor. At the end of the enrichment (on Day 110), 93.3% of phenol and 98.0% of NO3-–N were simultaneously removed at a hydraulic retention time of 20.25 h in the anaerobic bioreactor. The removal of 1 g NO3-–N required about 3.19 g chemical oxygen demand as the electron donor. Batch tests further revealed that cresol, nitrophenol, and monochlorinated phenol (MCP) could exert detrimental influences on the treatment abilities of the enriched culture. However, the inhibitory effects of cresol were impermanent, as compared to those of nitrophenol and MCP. In order to operate the anaerobic bioreactor steadily, high concentrations of cresol should be diluted before being fed while the existence of nitrophenol and MCP in the bioreactor should be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexibility was very important for molecularly imprinted membrane (MIM) to apply to practical use. A novel free-standing flexible MIM was prepared using methacrylic acid (MAA) and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) as co-functional monomer, and ionic liquid as porogen. HEA was able to effectively improve the flexibility of MIM. Ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, was able to accelerate the synthesis process and improve the selectivity and adsorption of the MIM. The properties of MIM were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Two structurally similar compounds (octopamine and tyramine) were selected as competitors to examine the selective recognition of MIM to synephrine (SYN). The competitive adsorption and permeation selectivity experiments showed that the MIM could selectively recognize SYN, and was able to be used to selectively separate SYN from the standard mixtures or the extract of stir-baked Aurantii Fructus Immaturus in methanol/water (4:1, v/v) media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]