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At least 1,531 records · Page 85

Environmental Controls on the Activity of Aquifer Microbial Communities in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site

Aquifer microbes in the 300 Area of the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State, USA are periodically exposed to U(VI) concentrations that can range up to 10 μM in small sediment fractures. Assays of 35 H-leucine incorporation indicated that both sediment-associated and planktonic microbes were metabolically active, and that organic C was growth-limiting in the sediments. Although bacteria suspended in native groundwater retained high activity when exposed to 100 μM U(VI), they were inhibited by U(VI) < 1 μM in synthetic groundwater that lacked added bicarbonate. Chemical speciation modeling suggested that positively-charged species and particularly (UO2)3(OH)5+ rose in concentration as more U(VI) was added to synthetic groundwater, but that carbonate complexes dominated U(VI) speciation in natural groundwater. U toxicity was relieved when increasing amounts of bicarbonate were added to synthetic groundwater containing 4.5 μM U(VI). Pertechnetate, an oxyanion that is another contaminant of concern at the Hanford Site, was not toxic to groundwater microbes at concentrations up to 125 μM.

hanford site↗

Valuing the Ozone-Related Health Benefits of Methane Emission Controls

Methane is a greenhouse gas that oxidizes to form ground-level ozone, itself a greenhouse gas and a health-harmful air pollutant. Reducing methane emissions will both slow anthropogenic climate change and reduce ozone-related mortality. We estimate the benefits of reducing methane emissions anywhere in the world for ozone-related premature mortality globally and for eight geographic regions. Our methods are consistent with those used by the U.S. Government to estimate the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC). We find that the global short- and long-term premature mortality benefits due to reduced ozone production from methane mitigation are (2011)$790 and $1775 per tonne methane, respectively. These correspond to approximately 70% and 150% of the valuation of methane’s global climate impacts using the SCC after extrapolating from carbon dioxide to methane using Global Warming Potential (GWP) estimates. Results are most sensitive to the choice of VSL and increase for emission years further in the future. Regionally, most of the global mortality benefits accrue in Asia, but 10% accrue in the United States. This methodology can be used to assess the benefits of methane emission reductions anywhere in the world, including those achieved by national and multinational policies.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Controlled Generation of TiO x –Au Interface Using Titanium Molecular Complex Bearing Pyridyl Anchors: Synthesis, Characterization and Catalysis

Interfacial perimeter sites between metal and support are often important for catalysis. A mononuclear titanium siloxy complex III, Ti(acac) 2 [OSiC 6 H 5 N(OCH 3 ) 2 ] 2 was synthesized to generate TiOx units of different degrees of clustering to decorate Au nanoparticles. Two different methods of preparation were examined; one was to deposit III onto Au/SiO 2 and the other was to form III-covered Au nanoparticle first before deposition onto SiO 2 . The former method generated more highly dispersed TiO x units, while larger domains of TiO 2 were formed with the latter method, as deduced by UV–vis and XAS characterization. A model was proposed to explain how TiO x dispersity could be related to the preparative procedures. These samples were further tested as catalysts in selective oxidation of propane in a stream of O 2 and H 2 . They exhibited different product selectivities. The sample with more dispersed TiO x units were more selective for acetone formation versus propene formation. The results confirmed the important role of both the Au–TiO x interface at the perimeter and the extent of Ti isolation in the TiO x phase in the reaction.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Application of deoxygenation-aeration cycling to control the predatory bacterium Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus in Chlorella sorokiniana cultures

A previously untested approach was evaluated to enable management of the predatory bacterium, Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus, a pathogen of Chlorella sorokiniana, in suspension cultures grown in a laboratory test reactor. Because V. chlorellavorus is an obligate aerobic bacterium, whereas C. sorokiniana grows under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, deoxygenation of the culture was expected to be detrimental to the pathogen, but not to the algal host. The effect of deoxygenation on the uninfected (healthy) C. sorokiniana suspension cells, compared to the C. sorokiniana-V. chlorellavorus co-culture, was studied in relation to biomass, dissolved oxygen, ratio of C. sorokiniana to V. chlorellavorus DNA, and visual and light microscopic observations. Preliminary experiments were conducted to test the effects of different deoxygenation-aeration cycling regimes on performance of V. chlorellavorus-free C. sorokiniana cultures. To an aerobic culture, pure nitrogen gas was introduced to create anoxic conditions, followed by the injection of ambient air to re-establish an aerobic environment. Under this repeated cycling regime, C. sorokiniana was shown to tolerate the anoxic conditions for extended timespans that ranged from 2 to 8 h over a 5-day test period. The analogous aerobic-anoxic cycling with the C. sorokiniana-V. chlorellavorus co-cultures resulted in ‘near-normal’ growth cycle and harvestable biomass, whereas the continuously-aerated (aerobic) co-cultures that were grown without the deoxygenation step in the cycle collapsed in 3 days. Visual and light microscopic observations revealed intact C. sorokiniana cells were present in the deoxygenated cultures, compared to the aerobically-grown, brown-colored algal cultures consisting of collapsed cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis showed continuous increases in the ratio of V. chlorellavorus (16S rDNA) to C. sorokiniana (18S rDNA) DNA in the aerated co-cultures, with greater increases during dark periods, while the pathogen-to-host DNA ratio in the deoxygenated co-cultures was relatively low and algal cells did not collapse, as would be expected following pathogen attack.

Algae, Anoxic, Bomass, Infection, Nitrogen, Quanti↗