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Acidophiles comprise a group of microorganisms adapted to live in acidic environments. Despite acidophiles are usually associated with an autotrophic metabolism, more than 80 microorganisms capable of utilizing organic matter have been isolated from natural and man-made environments. The ability to reduce soluble and insoluble iron compounds has been described for many of these species and may be harnessed to develop new or improved mining processes when oxidative bioleaching is ineffective. Similarly, as these microorganisms grow in highly acidic media and the chances of contamination are reduced by the low pH, they may be employed to implement robust fermentation processes. By conducting an extensive literature review, this work presents an updated view of basic aspects and technological applications in biomining, bioremediation, fermentation processes aimed at biopolymers production, microbial electrochemical systems, and the potential use of extremozymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and cost-effective heterogeneous catalyst for glycerol carbonate production through transesterification was developed by impregnating smectite clay with K2CO3. Comprehensive structural and chemical analyses, including X-ray diffraction Analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)-Electron Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis measurements, were employed to characterize the catalysts. Among the various catalysts prepared, the one impregnated with 40 wt% K2CO3 on smectite and calcined at 550 °C exhibited the highest catalytic activity, primarily due to its superior basicity. To enhance the efficiency of the transesterification process, several reaction parameters were optimized, including the molar ratio between propylene carbonate and glycerol reactor loading of the catalyst and reaction temperature. The highest glycerol carbonate conversion rate, approximately 77.13% ± 1.2%, was achieved using the best catalyst under the following optimal conditions: 2 wt% reactor loading, 110 °C reaction temperature, 2:1 propylene carbonate to glycerol molar ratio, and 6h reaction duration. Furthermore, both the raw clay and the best calcined K2CO3-impregnated catalysts demonstrated remarkable stability, maintaining their high activity for up to four consecutive reaction cycles. Finally, a kinetic analysis was performed using kinetic data from several runs employing raw clay and the most active K2CO3-modified clay at different temperatures, observing that a simple reversible second-order potential kinetic model of the quasi-homogeneous type fits perfectly to such data in diverse temperature ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a means to valorize glycerol, the synthesis of solketal through a ketalization reaction with acetone was performed. Mild solventless conditions were applied to test the activity of different commercially available sulfonic ion exchange resins that had already been used for other applications, namely: Amberlyst 35dry, Amberlyst 36dry, Purolite CT275DR, Purolite CT276 and Lewatit GF101. Thorough characterization of the resins is herein provided and discussed, including acidity, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric, 13C-NMR, surface area and pore size distribution measurements. Lewatit GF101 showed the best performance reaching a yield to solketal of 47% after 6 h of operation at 313 K using a molar excess of acetone to glycerol of 4.5 to 1, owing to a greater availability of active centers as well as the ease of access to them than in the rest of the resins. Additionally, reutilization with and without regeneration was performed in up to five cycles, showing that Purolite CT276 had the lowest relative drop of its maximum activity, despite being the least active in each of the cycles.