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Abstract\nHIGHLIGHTSRemoval of dyes has been a matter of great interest for researchers because of health and toxicity issues. In this research work, green biochar was produced using precipitation technique, and by the adsorption process, it was supported on layered double hydroxide (LDH). Biochar/LDH composites were synthesized from Neem, Amaltas, and Keekar stems, eggshells, and Eucalyptus (N, A, K, Egg, and Eu’s biochar/LDH-composite). These composites were employed to remove synthetic dyes from an aqueous solution. Recent studies have identified optimal conditions for LDH-composites under various parameters: pH 9 or 10 with a dosage of 0.05 g/50 mL yields higher adsorption capacities across different LDH composites, ranging from 40.74 to 48.30 mg/g at a reaction time of 90 min using a Pink-XFG dye concentration of 10 ppm, which is favorable. Temperatures of 303–308 K are suitable. Second-order kinetics, along with the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms, along with exothermic reactions, presented good-fit results on adsorption kinetics and equilibrium data. The adsorption potential was significantly affected by various concentrations of electrolytes, surfactants, detergents, and heavy metal ions. 0.5 N hydrochloric acid was determined to be the most efficient agent for the process of desorption. These methods are very cost-effective, eco-friendly, and easy to manufacture.Utilizes eco-friendly biochar from natural sources for creating LDH nanocomposites.Establishes precise conditions (pH, temperature, etc.) for maximal dye removal.Demonstrates high capacity for toxic Pink-XFG dye removal from water.Assesses how electrolytes, heavy metals, and detergents affect adsorption efficiency.0.5 N hydrochloric acid is effective for desorption, enabling adsorbent reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial sector plays a significant role in global economic growth. However, it also produces polluting effluents that must be treated to prevent environmental damage and ensure the quality of life for future generations is not compromised. Various physical, chemical, and biological methods have been employed to treat industrial effluents. Filamentous fungi, in particular, have garnered attention as effective bioremediation agents due to their ability to produce enzymes capable of degrading recalcitrant compounds, and adsorb different pollutant molecules. The novelty of the work reported herein lies in its comprehensive assessment of the research surrounding the use of white- and brown-rot fungi for removing phenolic compounds from industrial effluents. This study employs a systematic review coupled with scientometric analysis to provide insights into the evolution of this technology over time. It scrutinizes geographical distribution, identifies research gaps and trends, and highlights the most studied fungal species and their applications. A systematic review of 464 publications from 1945 to 2023 assessed the use of these fungi in removing phenolic compounds from industrial effluents. White-rot fungi were predominant (96.3%), notably Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pleurotus ostreatus, Trametes versicolor, and Lentinula edodes. The cultures employing free cells (64.15%) stand out over those using immobilized cells, just like cultures with isolated fungi regarding systems with microbial consortia. Geographically, Italy, Spain, Greece, India, and Brazil emerged as the most prominent countries in publications related to this area during the evaluated period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial sector plays a significant role in global economic growth. However, it also produces polluting effluents that must be treated to prevent environmental damage and ensure the quality of life for future generations is not compromised. Various physical, chemical, and biological methods have been employed to treat industrial effluents. Filamentous fungi, in particular, have garnered attention as effective bioremediation agents due to their ability to produce enzymes capable of degrading recalcitrant compounds, and adsorb different pollutant molecules. The novelty of the work reported herein lies in its comprehensive assessment of the research surrounding the use of white- and brown-rot fungi for removing phenolic compounds from industrial effluents. This study employs a systematic review coupled with scientometric analysis to provide insights into the evolution of this technology over time. It scrutinizes geographical distribution, identifies research gaps and trends, and highlights the most studied fungal species and their applications. A systematic review of 464 publications from 1945 to 2023 assessed the use of these fungi in removing phenolic compounds from industrial effluents. White-rot fungi were predominant (96.3%), notably Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pleurotus ostreatus, Trametes versicolor, and Lentinula edodes. The cultures employing free cells (64.15%) stand out over those using immobilized cells, just like cultures with isolated fungi regarding systems with microbial consortia. Geographically, Italy, Spain, Greece, India, and Brazil emerged as the most prominent countries in publications related to this area during the evaluated period.

Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) is a pollutant still found in the environment despite being widely banned. Considering that basidiomycetes are useful to degrade a variety of organochlorinated pollutants, we therefore report the influence of HCB on the ligninolytic enzymatic system of Deconica castanella. The inoculum was prepared with sugarcane bagasse and soybean flour and was added in soil with and without HCB (2000 mg kg soil−1), 5% emulsion containing soybean oil and Tween 20 at proportion 9:1, v:v; with 70% moisture at 25°C. Fungal biomass was quantified by widely acknowledged growth biomarker ergosterol. The extraction of the enzymatic complex was performed and laccase, Mn‐dependent peroxidase (MnP), and lignin peroxidase (LiP) activities were determined. Furthermore, HCB and its metabolites were quantified by gas chromatography and chlorides by potentiometric titration. Results evidenced that HCB did not interfere in fungal growth, though the only detected enzymatic activity was laccase. MnP and Lip were not detected during D. castanella growth in soil. The peak of laccase enzymatic activity occurred in the presence of HCB. In addition, the laccase exhibited thermostability. Therefore, we hereby shed light on the role of laccase in the degradation of HCB by an efficient low‐cost and environmentally safe detoxification mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing sustainable energy and cleaning water pollution are actually major societal issues requiring new catalysts. In particular, transition metal phosphides are emerging as effective photocatalytic materials. Here we review synthetic strategies for metal phosphides by various methods. We discuss passivation strategies for engineering electronic and structural properties of metal phosphide nanocomposites. Electronic properties, stability and activity depend upon the type of metal phosphides, either phosphorus-rich or metal-rich. Typically, a high content of phosphorous in metal phosphides improves the catalysis. The crystalline structure of metal phosphides also varies and depends upon their chemical composition. We present the latest developments in H2 production and photodegradation of aqueous pollutants using metal phosphide-based heterojunctions, with focus on type-II-, Z-scheme- and S-scheme-based heterojunctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf microorganism communities play significant roles in the process of plant growth, but the microbiome profiling of crop leaves is still a relatively new research area. Here, we used 16S rDNA sequencing to profile the microbiomes of 78 primary dried tobacco leaf samples from 26 locations in eight Chinese provinces. Our analyses revealed that the national leaf microbial communities contain 4473 operational taxonomic units (OTU) representing 1234 species, but there is a small, national core microbiome with only 14 OTU representing nine species. The function of this core microbiome is related to processes including nitrogen fixation, detoxification of diverse pollutants, and heavy-metal reduction. The leaf microorganism communities are obviously affected by local environments but did not exhibit obvious relationships to single ecological factors (e.g., temperature, precipitation). Our findings enhance the understanding of microbial diversity of tobacco leaves, which could be utilized for a variety of bioprocess, agricultural, and environmental detoxification applications.

Effective technologies and materials are needed for environmental detoxification and clean energy production. The actual photocatalytic technology is largely dependent on metal oxide-based semiconductors, which have issues such as cost, limited spectral response and recombination problems. Alternatively, non-metal photocatalysts have recently emerged. This article reviews non-metal oxide photocatalytic materials such as carbon nitride, metal nitrides, phosphides, chalcogenides, perovskites and carbides for environmental clean-up and energy production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rational designing of metal-free carbon nitride based photocatalysts can lead to an excellent optical response and a higher photocatalytic activity driven by visible and solar light. This combines green photocatalytic technology with greener materials prepared by facile approaches for environmental remediation. Herein we report utilization of star photocatalyst g-C 3 N 4 (CN) to form highly efficient hetero-assemblies along with acidified g-C 3 N 4 (ACN), polyaniline (PANI), reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and biochar. By use of these organic semiconductors we synthesize g-C 3 N 4 /ACN/RGO@Biochar (GARB), g-C 3 N 4 /PANI/RGO@Biochar (GPRB) and ACN/PANI/RGO@Biochar (APRB) nano-assemblies with different optical response and band edge positions for a better charge flow and reduced recombination of carriers. These synthesized catalysts were used for visible light powered degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) and ibuprofen (IBN). APRB performs the best and degrades 99.7% and 98.4% of 2,4-D and IBN (20 mg L−1) under Xe lamp exposure in 50 min and retention of high activity in natural sunlight. Optical analysis, photoelectrochemical response and radical quenching studies show both hydroxyl and superoxide radical anions as major reactive species and a Z-scheme photocatalytic mechanism. RGO acts as an electron mediator and protects higher positioned bands of PANI and ACN in APRB for a remarkable photocatalytic activity for a metal free material. The degradation pathway was analyzed by LC-MS analysis and 42% and 40% total organic carbon was removed in 2 h for 2,4-D and IBN degradation respectively. The toxicity of degraded products was analyzed by analyzing viability of human peripheral blood cells with retaining of 99.1% cells. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Metal free organic semiconductors based nano-assemblies as photocatalysts. • Utilizing g-C 3 N 4 , acidified C 3 N 4 , PANI for designing efficient photocatalyst. • Z-scheme mechanism-high spectral response and charge separation. • Excellent photo-degradation of Ibuprofen and 2,4-D under artificial and solar light. • Complete mineralization and no toxicity on human PBL cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Pulsing flow in trickle-bed reactors (TBRs) has been claimed to promote the averaged heat and mass transfer rates, thereby enhancing the overall conversion and productivity. In this work, we focused on the mineralization of organic matter by catalytic wet oxidation at different liquid flow modulations. The convective nature of the disturbances that lead to pulsing was simulated by an Eulerian Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model and validated with experimental data. In order to evaluate the predicted effects of pulsing on reaction outcome, first the multiphase flow governing equations were detailed with the computational methodology used in the simulation procedure. Prominent numerical parameters were optimized in terms of mesh aperture and time step. Second, to enable objective assessments of the merits of the different cyclic strategies, several computational runs were performed addressing the effect of nominal gas and liquid flow rates as well as the oxidation temperature. Here, we found that the concentration profile computed by the CFD model for pulsing flow conditions demonstrated superior oxidation performance over the trickling flow regime, which has been further corroborated by experimental evidences. Afterwards, the normalized concentration series close to the top of the TBR exhibited sharp fronts and gradually become less intense as they travel downward that reflected the nonisolated nature of the traveling liquid pulsations. Finally, these computational and experimental findings enabled us to intensify the detoxification of high-strength wastewaters and can be further exploited due to advantageous dispersive and convective heat/mass transfer phenomena under pulsing flow conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Leaf microorganism communities play significant roles in the process of plant growth, but the microbiome profiling of crop leaves is still a relatively new research area. Here, we used 16S rDNA sequencing to profile the microbiomes of 78 primary dried tobacco leaf samples from 26 locations in eight Chinese provinces. Our analyses revealed that the national leaf microbial communities contain 4473 operational taxonomic units (OTU) representing 1234 species, but there is a small, national core microbiome with only 14 OTU representing nine species. The function of this core microbiome is related to processes including nitrogen fixation, detoxification of diverse pollutants, and heavy-metal reduction. The leaf microorganism communities are obviously affected by local environments but did not exhibit obvious relationships to single ecological factors (e.g., temperature, precipitation). Our findings enhance the understanding of microbial diversity of tobacco leaves, which could be utilized for a variety of bioprocess, agricultural, and environmental detoxification applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]