Search Results (8)

Microalgae have great potential for remediating salt-affected soil. In this study, the microalgae species Coelastrella sp. SDEC-28, Dunaliella salina SDEC-36, and Spirulina subsalsa FACHB-351 were investigated for their potential to rehabilitate salt-affected soils. Nylon screens with optimal aperture sizes and layer numbers were identified to efficiently intercept and harvest biomass, suggesting a correlation between underflow capability and the tough cell walls, strong motility, and intertwining characteristics of the algae. Our investigations proved the feasibility of incorporating monosodium glutamate residue (MSGR) into soil extracts at dilution ratios of 1/200, 1/2000, and 1/500 to serve as the optimal medium for the three microalgae species, respectively. After one growth period of these three species, the electrical conductivities of the media decreased by 0.21, 1.18, and 1.78 mS/cm, respectively, and the pH remained stable at 7.7, 8.6, and 8.4. The hypotheses that microalgae can remediate soil and return profits have been verified through theoretical calculations, demonstrating the potential of employing specific microalgal strains to enhance soil conditions in eco-farms, thereby broadening the range of crops that can be cultivated, including those that are intolerant to saline–alkali environments. Full article

To better understand its mechanism of activity towards higher alcohols, we overexpressed and purified new Geotrichum candidum GDH (GcGDH). The purified GcGDH (50.27 kDa) was then crystallized, and the crystal diffracted to a resolution of 2.3 Å using X-ray diffraction. We found that the GcGDH crystal structure belonged to space group P212121 and was comprised of two hexamers organized into an asymmetric unit, with each subunit consisting of 452 amino acid residues. The binding sites between higher alcohols or L-glutamic acid and GcGDH were consistent. The optimal reaction conditions for GcGDH and hexanol were a pH of 4.0 and temperature of 30 °C, and those for GcGDH and monosodium glutamate (MSG) were a pH of 8.0 and temperature of 20 °C. The Km values for hexanol and MSG were found to be 74.78 mM and 0.018 mM, respectively. Mutating GcGDH Lys 113 to either Ala or Gly caused a dramatic reduction in its catalytic efficiency towards both MSG and hexanol, suggesting that Lys 113 is essential to the active site of GcGDH. Full article

This study aimed to recover copper and gold from a waste printed circuit board (WPCB) using monosodium glutamate (MSG) supplemented with a clean oxidizer(s) under 30 °C, 150 rpm, and an initial pH of 7.00. The solder mask of WPCBs needed to be removed before leaching. At the first leaching, 93% of copper was selectively leached from solder–mask–free WPCBs within 3 h using 0.75 M MSG with 0.50% (w/v) ${\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_2$. Then, gold (86%) was extracted from the first residue for 3 h by 1 M MSG with 0.25% (w/v) ${\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_2$. In the downstream process, 98–100% copper could be directly recovered within 5–6 h from the first leachate by electrowinning (EW). However, gold in the second leachate required separation and purification processes before EW. At 4 h, 98% gold was adsorbed onto the activated carbon. Most impurities were removed from gold-loaded activated carbon by pre-elution using 0.05 M EDTA for 0.5 h without gold release. Afterward, 99% gold was eluted by diluted aqua-regia within an hour. Finally, the gold could be harvested perfectly using EW for 2 h. This complete copper and gold recycling process delivers an innovative concept for hydrometallurgical study and has the potential to develop into a practical industry. Full article

Milk was co-fermented with Bacillus subtilis HA and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum EJ2014 to produce a dairy ingredient enriched with poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The first fermentation of milk with B. subtilis HA resulted in a viscous broth with pH 6.56, 0.26% acidity, 1.40 mg/g tyrosine equivalent, and 17.21 U/g protease activity. The viable cell counts of B. subtilis indicated 8.74 log CFU/mL, and the consistency index of the alkaline fermented milk was 1.82 Pa·sⁿ. In addition, 4.65% mucilage was produced with 35.93% γ-PGA content. The milk co-fermented by L. plantarum indicated 1.34% acidity and pH 4.91. The viable bacterial counts of B. subtilis decreased to 4.44 log CFU/mL, whereas those of L. plantarum increased to 9.42 log CFU/mL. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) as a precursor was effectively converted into γ-PGA by B. subtilis, and then residual MSG was completely converted into GABA by L. plantarum with a yield of 26.15 mg/g. Furthermore, the co-fermented milk produced volatiles, including hexanoic acid, 2,3-butanediol, and acetoin, which may be responsible for its aged cheese-like aroma. Full article

Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Nannochloropsis oceanica, with their satisfactory performance in accumulating lipids and other high-value products, have been successfully used for commercial production in recent years. However, costly chemicals in culture media greatly increase the price of the resulting bioproducts. To control the cultivation cost, this paper assessed the potential of seawater supplemented with monosodium glutamate residue wastewater at a ratio of 1/500 (S-MSGR) to serve as a growing medium for these two marine species. Compared with the standard chemical culture medium, Erdschreiber’s medium (EM), both the algal growth and metabolite accumulation of P. tricornutum and N. oceanica were greatly promoted in S-MSGR. The maximum biomass concentrations of P. tricornutum and N. oceanica reached 0.93 and 0.36 g/L, which were, respectively, 1.5 and 1.9 times higher than those in EM medium. For lipid accumulation, P. tricornutum exhibited an excellent lipid productivity of 22.9 mg/L/day in S-MSGR, a 64% increase compared to EM medium. Furthermore, the average yield coefficients indicated good performance of P. tricornutum and N. oceanica in transferring the nitrogen in S-MSGR to the biomass, at 74.8 and 174.8 mg/g of nitrogen. In addition, compared with EM, the costs of the medium for lipid production of P. tricornutum and N. oceanica cultured in S-MSGR were USD 2.3 and 5.8/(kg lipid), which saved 96.9% and 97.6%, respectively. Therefore, this paper demonstrates that S-MSGR is a suitable nutrient resource for P. tricornutum and N. oceanica, and it has a great potential to cut the cultivation cost during real commercial production. Full article

The open burning of agricultural residues derived from rice is a social issue in Thailand, as it causes air pollution in the form of smoke. A way to prevent smoke air pollution is to pulverize glycosylated non-edible biomass and convert it to monosodium glutamate (MSG). This study assessed MSG produced by non-edible biomass and compared the environmental performance of MSG produced using tapioca starch. The scope of this study ranges from the cultivation of raw materials to the production of MSG. The adopted impact categories include carbon, water, and air pollution. The primary data refer to the average unit input and fuel consumption of annual MSG production. The secondary data are used for inventories, namely, Ecoinvent 3, the Water Footprint Network, and the EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook. We also conducted an impact assessment of the health impacts and weighting across several impact categories using LIME-3. The human health impact assessments for MSG from non-edible biomass and tapioca starch show gains of 1.92 × 10⁻⁵ and 3.59 × 10⁻⁵ DALYs per kg MSG, respectively. This difference is due to declining water scarcity and air pollution footprints. We found that using rice straw prevents water scarcity and smoke air pollution caused by open burning. Full article

The efficacy of monosodium glutamate (MSG) as a lixiviant for the selective and sustainable leaching of zinc and copper from electric arc furnace dust was tested. Batch leaching studies and XRD, XRF and SEM-EDS characterization confirmed the high leaching efficiency of zinc (reaching 99%) and copper (reaching 86%) leaving behind Fe, Al, Ca and Mg in the leaching residue. The separation factor (concentration ratio in pregnant leach solution) between zinc vs. other elements, and copper vs. other elements in the optimum condition could reach 11,700 and 250 times, respectively. The optimum conditions for the leaching scheme were pH 9, MSG concentration 1 M and pulp density 50 g/L. Kinetic studies (leaching time and temperature) revealed that the saturation value of leaching efficiency was attained within 2 h for zinc and 4 h for copper. Modeling of the kinetic experimental data indicated that the role of temperature on the leaching process was minor. The study also demonstrated the possibility of MSG recycling from pregnant leach solutions by precipitation as glutamic acid (>90% recovery). Full article

We have developed a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) production technique using his-tag mediated immobilization of Escherichia coli-derived glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of glutamate to GABA. The GAD was obtained at 1.43 g/L from GAD-overexpressed E. coli fermentation and consisted of 59.7% monomer, 29.2% dimer and 2.3% tetramer with a 97.6% soluble form of the total GAD. The harvested GAD was immobilized to metal affinity gel with an immobilization yield of 92%. Based on an investigation of specific enzyme activity and reaction characteristics, glutamic acid (GA) was chosen over monosodium glutamate (MSG) as a substrate for immobilized GAD, resulting in conversion of 2.17 M GABA in a 1 L reactor within 100 min. The immobilized enzymes retained 58.1% of their initial activities after ten consecutive uses. By using cation exchange chromatography followed by enzymatic conversion, GABA was separated from the residual substrate and leached GAD. As a consequence, the glutamic acid was mostly removed with no detectable GAD, while 91.2% of GABA was yielded in the purification step. Full article