Developing non radical systems for antibiotic degradation is crucial for addressing the inefficiency of conventional radical systems. In this study, novel magnetic-modified sludge biochar (MASBC) was synthesized to significantly enhance the oxidative degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) by ferrate (Fe (VI)). In the Fe (VI)/MASBC system, 90.46% of SMX at a concentration of 10 μM and 49.34% of the total organic carbon (TOC) could be removed under optimal conditions of 100 μM of Fe (VI) and 0.40 g/L of MASBC within 10 min. Furthermore, the Fe (VI)/MASBC system was demonstrated with broad-spectrum removal capability towards sulfonamides in single or mixture. Quenching experiments, EPR analyses, and electrochemical experiments revealed that direct electron transfer (DET) and •O2- were mainly responsible for the removal of SMX, with functional groups (e.g., -OH, C=O) and Fe-O (redox of Fe (III)/Fe (II)) acting as the active sites. While the probe experiments showed that Fe (IV)/Fe (V) made a minor contribution to the degradation of SMX. Benefiting from the DET, the Fe (VI)/MASBC system exhibited a wide pH adaptation range (e.g., from 5.0 to 10.0) and strong anti-interference ability. The N atoms and their neighboring atoms in SMX were the prior degradation sites, with the cleavage of bond and ring opening. The degradation products showed low or non-toxicity according to ECOSAR program assessment. The removal of SMX remained within a reasonable range of 71.33% to 90.46% over five consecutive cycles. Also, the Fe (VI)/MASBC system was demonstrated to be effectively applied for successful SMX removal in various water matrices, including ultrapure water, tap water, lake water, Yangtze River water, and wastewater. Therefore, this study new insights into the mechanism of Fe (VI) oxidation and will contribute to the efficient treatment of organic pollutants.

Fenton-conditioning is commonly used to improve dewatering ability for municipal biological sludge, however, its application in industries is scarce. In this study, biochar (FT-BC) was successfully synthesized from a Fenton-conditioned landfill leachate biological sludge under oxygen-limited. As compared to the corresponding blank and poly ferric-pretreated biochars (BC and PF-BC), moderate Fenton conditioning of the sludge could enable good removal performance for Cr (Ⅵ) by FT-BC. It was found that the oxygen central free radicals (OCFRs) on the biochar surface was intensively promoted due to Fenton electrophilic addition of ·OH onto the oxygen-containing functional groups in biomass. The amounts of OCFRs correlated positively well with the removal efficiency, indicating these persistent free radicals (PFRs)would mainly responsible for the reductive immobilization of Cr(VI)on the FT-BC surface. This study is expected to provide a new method for reclamation of industrial biological sludges with poor agglomeration by introducing simple Fenton pre-conditioning.

Sewage sludge in cities of Yangzi River Belt, China, generally exhibits a lower organic content and higher silt contentdue to leakage of drainage system, which caused low bioenergy recovery and carbon emission benefits in conventional anaerobic digestion (CAD). Therefore, this paper is on a pilot scale, a bio-thermophilic pretreatment anaerobic digestion (BTPAD) for low organic sludge (volatile solids (VS) of 4%) was operated with a long-term continuous flow of 200 days. The VS degradation rate and CH4 yield of BTPAD increased by 19.93% and 53.33%, respectively, compared to those of CAD. The analysis of organic compositions in sludge revealed that BTPAD mainly improved the hydrolysis of proteins in sludge. Further analysis of microbial community proportions by high-throughput sequencing revealed that the short-term bio-thermophilic pretreatment was enriched in Clostridiales, Coprothermobacter and Gelria, was capable of hydrolyzing acidified proteins, and provided more volatile fatty acid (VFA) for the subsequent reaction. Biome combined with fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis showed that the number of bacteria with high methanogenic capacity in BTPAD was much higher than that in CAD during the medium temperature digestion stage, indicating that short-term bio-thermophilic pretreatment could provide better methanogenic conditions for BTPAD. Furthermore, the greenhouse gas emission footprint analysis showed that short-term bio-thermophilic pretreatment could reduce the carbon emission of sludge anaerobic digestion system by 19.18%.

BACKGROUND: Stroke and thromboembolism in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) primarily arise from thrombi or sludge in the left atrial appendage (LAA). Comprehensive insight into the characteristics of these formations is essential for effective risk assessment and management.
METHODS: We conducted a single-center retrospective observational of 176 consecutive NVAF patients with confirmed atrial/appendage thrombus or sludge determined by a pre-ablation transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) from December 2017 to April 2019. We obtained clinical and echocardiographic characteristics, including left atrial appendage emptying velocity (LAAeV) and filling velocity (LAAfV). Data analysis focused on identifying the morphology and location of thrombus or sludge. Patients were divided into the solid thrombus and sludge groups, and the correlation between clinical and echocardiographic variables and thrombotic status was analyzed.
RESULTS: Morphological classification: In total, thrombi were identified in 78 patients, including 71 (40.3%) mass and 7 (4.0%) lamellar, while sludge was noted in 98 (55.7%). Location classification: 92.3% (72/78) of patients had thrombus confined to the LAA; 3.8% (3/78) had both LA and LAA involvement; 2.7% (2/78) had LA, LAA and RAA extended into the RA, the remained 1.2%(1/78) was isolated to RAA. 98.0% (96/98) of patients had sludge confined to the LAA; the remaining 2.0% (2/98) were present in the atrial septal aneurysm, which protrusion of interatrial septum into the RA. The thrombus and sludge groups showed low LAAeV (19.43 ± 9.59 cm/s) or LAAfV (17.40 ± 10.09 cm/s). Only LA dimension ≥ 40 mm was independently associated with the thrombus state in the multivariable model.
CONCLUSIONS: This cohort study identified rare thrombus morphology and systematically summarized the classification of thrombus morphology. The distribution of thrombus and sludge outside limited to LAA was updated, including bilateral atrial and appendage involvement and rare atrial septal aneurysm sludge. LAAeV and LAAfV were of limited value in distinguishing solid thrombus from sludge.
BACKGROUND: ChiCTR-OCH-13,003,729.

Benzothiazoles (BTHs) and benzotriazoles (BTRs) are widely used in various consumer products. However, their occurrence and fate in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the United States remain poorly understood. In this study, wastewater and sludge samples were collected from two WWTPs from the Albany area of New York State (WWTPA and WWTPB) and the concentrations of three BTH derivatives (BTH, 2-OH-BTH, and 2-Me-S-BTH) and five BTR derivatives (1-OH-BTR, XTR, 4-OH-BTR, TTR, and BTR) were determined. The geometric mean (GM) concentrations of Σ(BTHs) and Σ(BTRs) in influent were in the range of 7550-8690 and 4590-6240 ng/L, whereas those in effluent were 6650-7150 and 4620-6800 ng/L, respectively. In the influent of two WWTPs, BTH, BTR, and TTR were identified as the major chemicals at respective GM concentrations of 8440, 4200, and 1280 ng/L in WWTPA, and 7300, 1180, and 2090 ng/L in WWTPB. The removal efficiencies of BTHs and BTRs following activated sludge treatment were < 80 %, and Σ(BTRs) showed a negative removal in both WWTPs. The respective mass loadings of Σ(BTHs) and Σ(BTRs) were 7240 and 5200 mg/d/1000 individuals in WWTPA, and 3530 and 2140 mg/d/1000 individuals in WWTPB. The environmental emissions of Σ(BTHs) and Σ(BTRs) from WWTP discharges were estimated at 3110-6030 and 2160-5700 mg/d/1000 individuals, respectively. Overall, BTHs and BTRs are not efficiently removed in WWTP processes. This study provides baseline information regarding the loading, fate, and discharge of BTHs and BTRs from WWTPs in the USA.

To optimize the effective utilization of organic waste in agricultural practices, a comprehensive assessment of associated risks and benefits is crucial. This study investigated the impact of three types of organic wastes (sludge, compost, and manure) on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in contaminated soil in a Scottish pasture. The experimental setup comprised 16 plots with four treatments (compost, manure, sludge, and inorganic fertilizer) and four replicates. After eight years of this study, notable disparities in ΣPAH16 concentrations were observed among the different treatments, with compost-amended soil at 378 μg kg-1, sludge-amended soil at 331 μg kg-1, and manure-amended soil at 223 μg kg-1. The concentrations of ΣPAH16 in soil amended with compost and sludge exhibited a linear increase with extended sampling time. Significant changes in ΣPAH16 concentration were evident in the compost treatment plot, with an increase of 20% in the first year and 82% in the eighth year. Risk assessment suggested a low level of health risk from exposure to PAHs at the measured concentrations in the three organic wastes. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of considering the effects of organic waste amendments on soil PAH levels to make informed decisions in sustainable agricultural practices. It also underscores the need for ongoing research to fully understand the implications of different organic waste applications on soil health and environmental quality.

Agricultural soils have been identified as potential reservoirs for plastic pollution, with adverse effects on soil properties. Primary sources of plastic input in agricultural landscapes are associated with the application of sewage sludge or compost. Understanding the sources and anticipated plastic content is crucial in mitigating plastic pollution in agricultural fields. This study presents one of the first investigations into the plastic content and other impurities, e.g. glass, of seven organic fertilizers (biowaste compost, digested pig slurry, sewage sludge compost, dry chicken manure, green waste compost, sewage sludge, and a mixed digestate comprising pig slurry, chicken manure, and 74 % renewable raw materials). Potentially visible foreign substances were assessed on the surface of each fertilizer pile. No impurities could be detected in digested pig slurry, chicken manure, and mixed digestate. For the remaining fertilizers, visible potential foreign substances were collected, cleaned, visually described, weighed, photographed, size measured, and chemically characterized using ATR-FTIR. The quantification revealed that plastic particles are the most abundant and are contained in all other fertilizers, in contrast to glass and metal. An increasing trend in plastic particle number per m2: green waste < biowaste < sewage sludge compost < sewage sludge, which is about 4 times greater in sewage sludge than in green waste compost, could be observed. However, sewage sludge compost has the largest plastic mass and surface area per square meter. This illustrates that sewage sludge compost application can be a significant entry pathway for visual plastics into agricultural soils.

Biosolids are a byproduct of wastewater treatment that can be beneficially applied to agricultural land as a fertilizer. While U.S. regulations limit metals and pathogens in biosolids intended for land applications, no organic contaminants are currently regulated. Novel techniques can aid in detection, evaluation, and prioritization of biosolid-associated organic contaminants (BOCs). For example, nontargeted analysis (NTA) can detect a broad range of chemicals, producing data sets representing thousands of measured analytes that can be combined with computational toxicological tools to support human and ecological hazard assessment and prioritization. We combined NTA with a computer-based tool from the U.S. EPA, the Cheminformatics Hazard Comparison Module (HCM), to identify and prioritize BOCs present in U.S. and Canadian biosolids (n = 16). Four-hundred fifty-one features were detected in at least 80% of samples, with identities of 92 compounds confirmed or assigned probable structures. These compounds were primarily categorized as endogenous compounds, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, and fragrances. Examples of top prioritized compounds were p-cresol and chlorophene, based on human health end points, and fludioxonil and triclocarban, based on ecological health end points. Combining NTA results with hazard comparison data allowed us to prioritize compounds to be included in future studies of the environmental fate and transport of BOCs.

A regular tetrahedron model was established to pierce the fractionation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) among quaternary components by using high-resolution mass spectrometry. The model can stereoscopically visualize molecular formulas of DOM to show the preference to each component according to the position in a regular tetrahedron. A classification method was subsequently developed to divide molecular formulas into 15 categories related to fractionation ratios, the relative change of which was demonstrated to be convergent with the uncertainty of mass peak area. The practicality of the regular tetrahedron model was verified by seven kinds of sludge from waste leachate treatment and sewage wastewater treatment plants by using stratification of extracellular polymeric substances coupled with Orbitrap MS as an example, presenting the DOM chemodiversity in stratified sludge flocs. Sensitivity analysis proved that classification results were relatively stable with the perturbation of four model parameters. Multinomial logistic regression analysis could further help identify the effect of molecular properties on the fractionation of DOM based on the classification results of the regular tetrahedron model. This model offers a methodology for the assessment of specificity of sequential extraction on DOM from solid or semisolid components and simplifies the complex mathematical expression of fractionation coefficients for quaternary components.

As an important reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), the sludge discharged from wastewater treatment plants is the key intermediate for ARG transport into the environment. Bdellovibrio-and-like organisms (BALOs) are predatory bacteria that are expected to attack antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). In this study, the screened BALOs (C3 & D15) were mixed with the sludge for biolysis to achieve the satisfying removal efficiencies of six tet genes, two sul genes, and one mobile genetic element (intl 1). Among them, tet(Q) demonstrated the highest reduction rate in relative abundance at 87.3 ± 1.0 %, while tet(X) displayed the lowest of 11.7 ± 0.2 %. The microorganisms, including Longilinea, Methanobacterium, Acetobacterium, Sulfurimonas, allobaculum, Gaiella, AAP99, Ellin6067, Rhodoferax, Ferruginibacter and Thermomonas, were expected to play a dual role in the reduction of ARGs by serving as ARB and BALOs\' preferred prey. Meanwhile, BALOs consortium improved ARGs reduction efficiency via the expansion of the prey profile. Additionally, BALOs decreased the relative abundance of not only pathogens (Shinella, Rickettsia, Burkholderia, Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Clostridium, Klebsiella and Pseudomonas), but also the ARGs\' host pathogens (Mycobacterium, Plesiocystis, Burkholderia, and Bacteroides). Therefore, the application of BALOs for sludge biolysis are promising to decrease the sludge\'s public health risks via limiting the spread of ARGs and pathogens into the environment.