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Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are widely used to treat wastewater, mainly due to the production of high-quality effluent. However, biofilm forming on the surface of membranes can cause many problems, which remains one of the major limitations of this technique. Bacterial quorum quenching (QQ) has been proven to be a successful strategy to control biofouling in MBRs. However, for many QQ bacterial isolates, the detailed degradation rates of acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) have rarely been reported. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate potential QQ bacteria and investigate their degradation rates against eight different AHLs. Results showed that four isolates (A9, A12, B11, and D3) exhibited consistent C8-HSL–(N-octanoyl-L-homoserine lactone) removal capabilities. These four isolates removed at least 70% of all AHLs tested within 180 min. They might have different QQ enzymes, based on our observation that the locations of enzyme activities differed. The bacteria most closely related to A9, A12, and B11 were Brucella anthropic, Bacillus cereus, and Bacillus toyonensis, respectively. Bacillus species have shown QQ activity in many studies, but AHL-reducing Brucella species have not been previously reported. Overall, this study extends our current knowledge of QQ bacteria that could be used to mitigate biofilm formation on MBR membranes.

In the present study, water recovery from wastewater was accomplished simultaneously with the electrical energy production from biofuel as a source of organic matter, by the novel integration of distillation membrane and microbial fuel cell to create a system called the membrane distillation microbial fuel cell (MDMFC). A hydrophobic 0.45 μm membrane made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was employed as a separator between the cathodic and anodic compartments to investigate multiple benefits of MDMFC for electricity generation, wastewater treatment and water reclamation at different temperature conditions. A high open-circuit voltage of 0.724 ± 0.07 V and a short circuit current of 64.55 ± 2.56 μA were achieved at 45 °C with an initial flux of 3.5 LMH. In the anodic chamber, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were detected as dominant species at 45 °C, among which the Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the most abundant sequences when an artificial substrate was used for feeding. The results indicate that 45 °C is the temperature that most significantly influences the electrochemical performance of MDMFC because of the dominance of bacterial community. Moreover, the power density increased by 99.9% when the temperature increased from 35 °C (0.99 μW m−3) to 45 °C (1552 μW m−3) and decreased by 97% when the temperature was further increased to 55 °C (43.91 μW m−3). Consequently, this study confirms that MD and MFC can be combined for the sustainable development of a water-energy nexus.

Membrane distillation (MD) has a high heat requirement. Integrating MD with thermophilic bioreactors could remedy this problem. A laboratory-scale thermophilic anaerobic granular sludge membrane distillation bioreactor (ThAGS-MDBR) was used to treat wastewater with a high organic loading rate (OLR). Waste heat from ThAGS was used directly for the MD process to reduce energy consumption. The result demonstrated that the ThAGS-MDBR system achieved a high-efficiency removal of chemical oxygen demand (more 99.5%) and NH4+-N (96.4%). Furthermore, the highest methane production from the proposed system was 332 mL/g CODremoved at OLR of 16 kg COD/m3/day. Specifically, an aggregate of densely packed diverse microbial communities in anaerobic granular sludge was the main mechanism for the enhancement of bioreactor tolerance with environmental changes. High-quality distillate water from ThAGS-MDBR was reclaimed in one step with total organic carbon less than 1.7 mg/L and electrical conductivity less than 120 μS/cm. Furthermore, the result of the DNA extraction kit recorded that Methanosaeta thermophila was a critical archaea for high COD removal and bioreactor stability.

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) is a toxic photoresist developer used in the photolithography process in thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) production, and it can be removed through anaerobic treatment. TMAH cannot be released into the environment because of its higher toxicity. A tight membrane, such as a forward osmosis (FO) membrane, together with an anaerobic biological process can ensure that no TMAH is released into the environment. Thus, for the first time, an anaerobic osmotic membrane bioreactor (AnOMBR) hybrid system was developed in this study to treat a low-strength TMAH wastewater and to simultaneously investigate its microbial community. Microfiltration extraction was used to mitigate the salinity accumulation, and a periodically physical water cleaning was utilized to mitigate the FO membrane fouling. The diluted draw solute (MgSO

High cyanobacteria-derived dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in source water can cause drinking water quality to deteriorate, producing bad taste, odor, toxins, and possibly elevated levels of disinfection byproduct (DBP) precursors. Conventional water treatment processes do not effectively remove algal organic substances. In this study, rapid-sand-filtration effluent from a water treatment plant on Kinmen Island, where serious cyanobacterial blooms occurred, was used to evaluate the DOC- and DBP-removal efficiency of ozonation and/or biofiltration. To simulate a small-scale water distribution system following water treatment, 24 h simulated distribution system (SDS) tests were conducted. The following DBPs were analyzed: trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), haloacetonitriles (HANs), and trichloronitromethane (TCNM). Applying biological activated-carbon filtration (BAC) on its own achieved the greatest reduction in SDS-DBPs. Ozonation alone caused adverse effects by promoting THM, HAA, and TCNM formation. Ozonation and BAC filtration yielded better DOC removal (51%) than BAC filtration alone (41%). Considering the cost of ozonation, we suggest that when treating high cyanobacterial organic matter in water destined for a small-scale water distribution system, BAC biofiltration alone could be an efficient, economical option for reducing DBP precursors. If DOC removal needs to be improved, preceding ozonation could be incorporated.

Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein complex, is responsible for maintaining the telomere length at chromosome ends. Using its RNA component as a template, telomerase uses its reverse transcriptase activity to extend the 3'-end single-stranded, repetitive telomeric DNA sequence. Pif1, a 5'-to-3' helicase, has been suggested to regulate telomerase activity. We used single-molecule experiments to directly show that Pif1 helicase regulates telomerase activity by removing telomerase from telomere ends, allowing the cycling of the telomerase for additional extension processes. This telomerase removal efficiency increases at longer ssDNA gaps and at higher Pif1 concentrations. The enhanced telomerase removal efficiency by Pif1 at the longer single-stranded telomeric DNA suggests a way of how Pif1 regulates telomerase activity and maintains telomere length.

A novel upflow anaerobic sludge–forward osmotic membrane bioreactor was developed for simultaneous wastewater treatment, membrane fouling reduction, and nutrient recovery. An upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor was incorporated into the system, suspending the anaerobic sludge at the bottom of the reactor. A forward osmosis membrane replaced the traditional three-phase separator of the UASB technology. The removals of chemical oxygen demand, PO43−, and NH4+ were all more than 95% with low membrane fouling in this system. Halotolerant Fusibacter, which can ferment organics to acetate, was increased rapidly from 0.1% to 5% in this saline environment. Acetoclastic Methanosaeta was the most dominant prokaryotes and responsible for majority of methane production. Reduction of membrane fouling in this system was verified by the fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectrophotometry. Furthermore, phosphorus recovery and salinity build-up mitigation were achieved using periodic microfiltration to recover 57–105 mg/L phosphorus from pH 9 to 12.