High Molecular Weight Contaminants Research Articles

A Comprehensive Review on Pulp and Paper Industries Wastewater Treatment Advances

The pulp and paper industry generates vast amounts of wastewater, and its character heavily depends on various factors (raw material, the undertaken process, the final product, etc.). The wastewater from this sector, which originates from several sources in each mill and are mostly combined, is polluting and hazardous. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of the physical, chemical, biological, and advanced hybrid treatment techniques, concerning their effectiveness in removing specific pollutants, namely, chemical oxygen demand, lignin, color, and adsorbable organo-halogens. Throughout the manuscript, at the end of each section, a conclusive comparison has been presented and the proper method is introduced. Furthermore, numeric data regarding the effectiveness of each technique toward each pollutant are gathered from the literature and are available in the Supporting Information of the paper. Biological treatment processes using anaerobic–aerobic treatment mostly cure organic biodegradable contaminants (75–90% COD removal). Moreover, biological treatment using a consortium of microorganisms can potentially increase color removal efficiency (from 65 to 97%). Hybrid treatment is also among the candidates for color removal. To treat complex matters (lignin and AOX), physical and chemical treatments have shown promising performance, but they are generally expensive and impractical to treat huge amounts of wastewater. For the treatment of high molecular weight contaminants (lignin) advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), including ozonation and Fenton-based treatment, have shown great performance (90–99%); however, they are limited due to their maintenance and operation costs. To overcome these challenges, source separation of the wastewater streams in the pulp and paper industry is recommended. AOPs or membrane technologies or hybrid processes are suggested for the bleaching effluent (80% AOX removal), which is relatively low in amount, and a combination of conventional treatment processes would be preferred to treat wastewater streams that are more biodegradable. The biological performance can also be enhanced using granular activated carbon on the sequence. Finally, for treating black liquor, adsorption processes have proven to be the prime candidate.

Detection, Identification, and Quantification of Nonpolar High Molecular Weight Contaminants in Jet and Diesel Fuels by Liquid Chromatography

A straightforward analytical methodology has been developed for the identification and characterization of nonpolar high molecular weight contaminants, such as lubricant oils and greases, in jet and diesel fuels. Such contaminants typically contain a distribution of compounds with carbon numbers in the range C25–C40, or 350–600 Da, which are sufficiently larger than fuel constituents to be effectively detected via liquid chromatography. The methodology is based on high performance liquid chromatography, utilizing a xylenes–cyclohexane mobile phase gradient to separate these contaminants from fuels by means of dual porous graphite stationary phase columns and evaporative light scattering detection. The limits of detection for n-pentacosane, n-triacontane, n-pentatriacontane, and n-tetracontane were determined to be approximately 0.1 ppm, with an upper limit of 10% by volume. The newly developed methodology improves upon a previously developed methodology by both enhancing the resolution of high molecular w...

Domestic wastewater treatment by forward osmosis-membrane distillation (FO-MD) integrated system

In this study, real domestic wastewater treatment by forward osmosis-membrane distillation (FO-MD) integrated system was investigated in laboratory scale. The integrated membrane system presented a good separation performance and the removal efficiency of most contaminants in the domestic wastewater was higher than 90%. High molecular weight contaminants were completely removed, while a few low molecular weight contaminants permeated through the membrane. The FO membrane fouling layer mainly consisted of organic substances like polysaccharides and proteins, and was very loose and could be effectively removed by rinsing the membrane surface with tap water. By comparison, the MD membrane fouling was mainly induced by inorganic salts and was not as severe as that of the FO membrane. During 120 h continuous operation, the FO-MD integrated system exhibited satisfying performance stability and maintained a high water yield and high product water quality. The results indicated the potential of the FO-MD integrated system for municipal wastewater treatment in coastal cities, water purification and desalination.

Cross-Flow Nanofiltration of Contaminated Protein-Containing Material: State of the Art

ABSTRACTRadiocarbon (14C) dating of protein-containing material (collagen, hair/wool, silk, leather) contaminated with extraneous carbon (e.g. humic substances) might result in unreliable dates when pretreated with the conventional but inadequate protocols. In this study cross-flow nanofiltration was applied to pretreated, protein-containing material. This method is able to remove low-molecular and high-molecular weight contaminants as demonstrated in previous studies. The sample quality improvement by cross-flow nanofiltration is verified by measuring the C:N ratio before and after nanofiltration. If the C:N ratio of the permeate (sample after cross-flow nanofiltration) falls within the C:N boundaries for uncontaminated wool/hair, silk and bone collagen, it is assumed to be contamination free. In our study, we focused on wool, silk, and collagen samples of known historical age. All samples treated by cross-flow nanofiltration effectively outputs C:N ratios within the expected range and yield for more accurate14C date in agreement with historical expectations whereas bulk samples with C:N ratio out of the expected ranges, give either younger or older dates. We thus highlight both that C:N ratio is a good indicator of contamination and that cross-flow nanofiltration is an efficient method to treat protein-containing materials prior to14C dating.

Treatment of Thiols in a GAS Stream Using Adsorption with Electrochemical Regeneration

This communication investigates the use of a non-porous, graphite intercalation compound adsorbent for the treatment of malodorous sulfur containing gases by adsorption followed by electrochemical regeneration. Molecular weight was shown to be an important factor for adsorption with breakthrough time increasing as molecular weight increased. The largest thiol studied, sec-butanethiol, had an adsorptive capacity of the order of 0.03 mg · g−1 and showed unfavorable isotherm characteristics. The oxidation of aqueous phase thiols was studied in an electrochemical cell with the adsorbent forming a three-dimensional anode. The oxidation charge efficiency in terms of chemical oxygen demand was measured for sec-butanthiol and was shown to be approximately 5.5%. A mathematical model of the process concluded that the process in this configuration would not be economical for general application but the concept merited further investigation for the selective removal of higher molecular weight contaminants.

Improved radiocarbon dating for contaminated archaeological bone collagen, silk, wool and hair samples via cross‐flow nanofiltrated amino acids

Radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analyses of bone collagen, wool, hair and silk contaminated with extraneous carbon (e.g. humic substances) does not yield reliable results if these materials are pre-treated using conventional methods. A cross-flow nanofiltration method was developed that can be applied to various protein materials like collagen, hair, silk, wool and leather, and should be able to remove low-molecular and high-molecular weight contaminants. To avoid extraneous carbon contamination via the filter a ceramic filter (molecular weight cut-off of 200 Da) was used. The amino acids, released by hot acid hydrolysis of the protein material, were collected in the permeate and contaminants in the retentate (>200 Da). (14)C-dating results for various contaminated archaeological samples were compared for bulk material (pre-treated with the conventional methods) and for cross-flow nanofiltrated amino acids (permeate) originating from the same samples. Contamination and quality control of (14)C dates of bulk and permeate samples were obtained by measuring C:N ratios, fluorescence spectra, and δ(13)C and δ(15)N values of the samples. Cross-flow nanofiltration decreases the C:N ratio which means that contaminants have been removed. Cross-flow nanofiltration clearly improved sample quality and (14)C results. It is a quick and non-labor-intensive technique and can easily be implemented in any (14)C and stable isotope laboratory for routine sample pre-treatment analyses.

Attachment and Detachment of Living Microorganisms Using a Potential-Controlled Electrode

We developed an electrical modulation method for attachment and detachment of microorganisms. Living microorganisms suspended in non-nutritive media such as PBS(−) and artificial seawater were attracted by and selectively attached to indium tin oxide (ITO)/glass electrode regions to which a negative potential was applied. The microorganisms suspended in LB medium and glucose solution were not attracted to the ITO electrode. Dead microorganisms were not attracted to the ITO electrode. The living microorganisms were retrieved after detachment from the ITO electrode by application of a high-frequency triangular wave potential. When we applied this method to separate microorganisms from deep-sea sediment, bacteria belonging to 19 phyla and 23 classes were collected without undesirable high molecular weight contaminants such as humic acids. At the phylum and class level, respectively, 95 and 87 % of the phylotypes among electrically retrieved bacteria were common to the gene clones from the direct sediment DNA extraction. This technique is a novel useful method to prepare bacterial cells in a single population or a community for metagenomic analyses.

Is PET bottle-to-bottle recycling safe? Evaluation of post-consumer recycling processes according to the EFSA guidelines

For almost 15 years now in Europe, used plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have been recycled in such a way that the recyclate can be used for new PET bottles. Several recycling plants have been established all over Europe. Since May 2008 the European Recycling Regulation 282/2008 has been in force. According to this regulation, every recycling process must be individually approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). For this evaluation process, EFSA has developed a conservative evaluation concept in order to protect consumers. The evaluation is partly based on mathematical calculation of the migration. The current migration model overestimates the migration. EFSA acknowledges that the migration model overestimates by at least a factor of 5. This applies for small molecules such as toluene. However, higher molecular weight contaminants such as benzophenone are even more overestimated. The reason for this overestimation is that the currently used migration model is based on a fixed activation energy of diffusion. Conversely, the curve of the maximum bottle wall concentration calculated using the current migration model increases much too gradually with the molecular weight. New developments in migration modelling consider more precisely the activation energies of diffusion. Consequently, using the new, more realistic diffusion coefficients influences significantly the EFSA evaluation criteria.

Development of a nanofiltration method for bone collagen 14C AMS dating

Radiocarbon dating of bones is usually performed on the collagen fraction. However, this collagen can contain exogenous molecules, including humic substances (HSs) and/or other soil components that may have a different age than the bone. Incomplete removal can result in biased 14C dates. Ultrafiltration of collagen, dissolved as gelatin (molecular weight (MW) ∼100,000 Dalton), has received considerable attention to obtain more reliable dates. Ultrafiltration is an effective method of removal of low-molecular weight contaminants from bone collagen but it does not remove high-molecular weight contaminants, such as cross-linked humic collagen complexes. However, comparative dating studies have raised the question whether this cleaning step itself may introduce contamination with carbon from the filters used.In this study, a nanofiltration method was developed using a ceramic filter to avoid a possible extraneous carbon contamination introduced by the filter. This method should be applicable to various protein materials e.g. collagen, silk, wool, leather and should be able to remove low-molecular and high molecular weight HSs. In this study bone collagen was hot acid hydrolyzed to amino acids and nanofiltrated. A filter with a molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) of 450 Dalton was chosen in order to collect the amino acids in the permeate and the HSs in the retentate.Two pilot studies were set up. Two nanofiltration types were tested in pilot study 1: dead end and cross flow filtration. Humic substance (HS)-solutions with fossil carbon and modern hydrolyzed collagen contaminated with HSs were filtrated and analyzed with spectrofluorescence to determine the HS removal. Cross flow nanofiltration showed the most efficient HS removal. A second pilot study based upon these results was set up wherein only cross flow filtration was performed. 14C measurements of the permeates of hydrolyzed modern collagen contaminated with fossil HSs demonstrate a significant but incomplete removal of HSs (between 63% and 85%).

Diffusion-edited NMR spectra of heparin contaminants

Diffusion NMR is a useful method for the analysis of mixtures, providing information about the number of components as well as insight into their relative sizes. This work explores the use of diffusion-edited NMR measurements for the identification of the glycosaminoglycan impurities dermatan sulfate (DS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), and oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) in solutions of heparin subjected to enzymatic digestion. Enzymatic digestion significantly improves the resolution of the biopolymer impurities in diffusion-edited 1H NMR spectra facilitating identification of high molecular weight contaminants.

Fetuin-A (α2HS-Glycoprotein) Is a Major Serum Adhesive Protein That Mediates Growth Signaling in Breast Tumor Cells

Fetuin-A (α2HS-Glycoprotein) Is a Major Serum Adhesive Protein That Mediates Growth Signaling in Breast Tumor Cells

Digital MDA for enumeration of total nucleic acid contamination

Multiple displacement amplification (MDA) is an isothermal, sequence-independent method for the amplification of high molecular weight DNA that is driven by ϕ29 DNA polymerase (DNAP). Here we report digital MDA (dMDA), an ultrasensitive method for quantifying nucleic acid fragments of unknown sequence. We use the new assay to show that our custom ϕ29 DNAP preparation is free of contamination at the limit of detection of the dMDA assay (1 contaminating molecule per assay microliter). Contamination in commercially available preparations is also investigated. The results of the dMDA assay provide strong evidence that the so-called ‘template-independent’ MDA background can be attributed to high-molecular weight contaminants and is not primer-derived in the commercial kits tested. dMDA is orders of magnitude more sensitive than PCR-based techniques for detection of microbial genomic DNA fragments and opens up new possibilities for the ultrasensitive quantification of DNA fragments in a wide variety of application areas using MDA chemistry and off-the-shelf hardware developed for digital PCR.

Stoichiometry and Absolute Quantification of Proteins with Mass Spectrometry Using Fluorescent and Isotope-labeled Concatenated Peptide Standards

We have explored a general approach for the determination of absolute amounts and the relative stoichiometry of proteins in a mixture using fluorescence and mass spectrometry. We engineered a gene to express green fluorescent protein (GFP) with a synthetic fusion protein (GAB-GFP) in Escherichia coli to function as a spectroscopic standard for the quantification of an analogous stable isotope-labeled, non-fluorescent fusion protein (GAB*) and for the quantification and stoichiometric analysis of purified transducin, a heterotrimeric G-protein complex. Both GAB-GFP and GAB* contain concatenated sequences of specific proteotypic peptides that are derived from the alpha, beta, and gamma protein subunits of transducin and that are each flanked by spacer regions that maintain the native proteolytic properties for these peptide fragments. Spectroscopic quantification of GAB-GFP provided a molar scale for mass spectrometric ratios from tryptic peptides of GAB* and defined molar responses for mass spectrometric signal intensities from a purified transducin complex. The stoichiometry of transducin subunits alpha, beta, and gamma was measured to be 1:1.1:1.15 over a 5-fold range of labeled internal standard with a relative standard deviation of 9%. Fusing a unique genetically coded spectroscopic signal element with concatenated proteotypic peptides provides a powerful method to accurately quantify and determine the relative stoichiometry of multiple proteins present in complexes or mixtures that cannot be readily assessed using classical gravimetric, enzymatic, or antibody-based technologies.

Characterisation of an attrition scrubber for the removal of high molecular weight contaminants in sand

Abstract According to a recent paper published in The Chemical Engineer, there is an estimated 200,000 ha of contaminated land in the U.K. [C. Cunningham, J. Philip, Partners in grime, Chem. Eng. 378/379 (2002) 34–36]. Due to the requirement to remediate this land to reduce the levels of toxins, there is a need for simple transportable remediation techniques. One possible technique is the attrition scrubber. Investigations into the parameters that affect the efficiency of an attrition scrubber at removing high concentration, high molecular weight hydrocarbons from well defined silica sand medium are described. Mineral oil (Catenex S341) and unrefined bees wax were used as the contaminants. A number of parameters including liquid–solid ratio, power input, contaminant type and concentration, were experimentally tested for their effects on contaminant removal efficiencies. Repeatable experimental results were successfully obtained for all parameters tested. Mixing vessel design, power input into the system, contaminant type and concentration all had significant effects on the removal of contaminants. Maximum removal efficiencies of 21.3 and 96.7% where achieved for bee's wax and S341 respectively. These results show that an attrition scrubber can be used to remediate contaminated silica media and that remediation of soils is possible. This is the focus of the future studies.

High-Purity Factor IX Concentrates for Treatment of Hemophilia B: Relative Purity and Thrombogenic Potential

Constituents other than factor IX have been implicated as etiologic agents for thrombotic complications in patients receiving prothrombin complex concentrates (PCCs). In vitro studies, in vivo animal models, and clinical evaluations in patients with hemophilia B indicate that high-purity factor IX concentrates contain significantly fewer potentially thrombogenic contaminants than PCCs. A recent in vitro study from our laboratory used highly sensitive assays to analyze the relative purity of these newer products. The following products were studied using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis and immunoblotting: Aimafix, AlphaNine-SD, Factor IX VHP, Immunine, Mononine, Nanotiv, and 9MC (now known as Replinine). The mean specific activity of the high-purity factor IX products ranged from 68 IU factor IX/mg (Aimafix) to 246 IU factor IX/mg (Mononine). SDS-PAGE analysis under reducing and nonreducing conditions showed that Mononine had the fewest contaminating bands. The immunoblot to detect factor IX showed a dominant factor IX band for all products, visible light chain of factor IX for all products except Aimafix, and another contaminating band visible at 49,500 daltons for all products except 9MC. High molecular weight contaminants were apparent for some products. Factor VIIa was detected in some lots of Immunine, Nanotiv and 9MC. Factor X and prothrombin contaminated Aimafix, AlphaNine-SD, Factor IX VHP, Immunine, Nanotiv and 9MC. Thus, Mononine, Nanotiv and 9MC demonstrated the highest purity but no product was totally free of contaminants.

In Vitro Characterization of High Purity Factor IX Concentrates for the Treatment of Hemophilia B

This study employed sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis and immunoblotting to assess the purity of seven high purity factor IX concentrates: Aimafix (Aima), AlphaNine-SD (Alpha Therapeutic), Factor IX VHP (Biotransfusion), Immunine (Immuno), Mononine (Armour Pharmaceutical), Nanotiv (Kabi Pharmacia), and 9MC (Blood Products Laboratory). The mean specific activity of these products ranged from 68 U factor IX/mg (Aimafix) to 246 U factor IX/mg (Mononine). SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the highest purity product, Mononine, had a single contaminating band under non-reducing conditions. Two additional bands were detected when this product was analyzed under reducing conditions. All other products had multiple contaminating bands that were more apparent under reducing than non-reducing conditions. The immunoblot for factor IX showed a dominant factor IX band for all products. In addition, visible light chain of factor IX was detected for AlphaNine-SD, Factor IX VHP, Immunine, Mononine, Nanotiv, and 9MC, suggesting that the factor IX in these products had undergone partial activation to factor IXa. Another contaminating band was visible at 49,500 for all of the products except 9MC. In addition to this band, high molecular weight contaminants were apparent for some products, most notably AlphaNine-SD. The identity of these bands is unknown. Immunoblotting failed to demonstrate factor VII as a contaminant of any of the high purity products, although factor VIIa could be detected in some lots of Immunine, Nanotiv, and 9MC by a clot-based assay. Factor X contaminated Aimafix, AlphaNine-SD, Factor IX VHP, Immunine, Nanotiv, and 9MC, but activation products of factor X were not detected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The putative RGD-dependent cell adhesion activity of matrix Gla protein is due to higher molecular weight contaminants.

This study was carried out to further characterize the RGD-dependent cell adhesion activity which was previously observed in the vitamin K-dependent matrix Gla protein (MGP) (Loeser, R. F., and Wallin, R. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 9459-9462). We have found that this cell adhesion activity can be completely removed from the 10-kDa MGP by gel filtration over Sephacryl S-200-HR. The higher molecular weight contaminants removed by the gel filtration step display potent cell adhesion activity. The additional evidence previously adduced in support of the putative cell adhesion activity of MGP is that heat decarboxylation of the vitamin K-dependent gamma-carboxyglutamate residues in MGP abolished the adhesion activity. The heat decarboxylation conditions used, however, appear to cause other chemical changes in proteins in addition to decarboxylation, as evidenced by the fact that the cell adhesion activity of fibronectin, which is not a vitamin K-dependent protein, is also destroyed by this procedure. The present evidence that the putative cell adhesion activity of MGP is caused by contaminating higher molecular weight cell adhesion proteins accounts for two apparent anomalies in the previously reported cell adhesion activity of MGP, the failure of antibodies raised against a synthetic peptide corresponding to the C-terminal 19 residues of bovine MGP to inhibit the cell adhesion activity of the intact, 79-residue bovine protein, and the potent inhibition of the cell adhesion activity of MGP by a synthetic peptide containing an RGD sequence, even though MGP does not contain this sequence.

A procedure for large-scale purification of domoic acid from toxic blue mussels (Mytilus edulis)

Pure domoic acid is required for use in research to investigate the biological effects of this new shellfish toxin. It may also prove to be a useful tool in studies exploring the basis of Alzheimer's disease. In this paper we describe a procedure which is effective in obtaining adequate quantities of pure domoic acid from blue mussel (Mytilus edulis). The procedure involves tissue homogenization, treatment of homogenate with chloroform and methanol, and separation of different phases with the addition of water. The aqueous-methanolic phase (upper layer) contains water soluble components including domoic acid, the chloroform phase (lower layer) contains lipoid moieties, and the interphase contains denatured proteins. The aqueous phase containing domoic acid was removed, rotory evaporated to get rid of methanol, followed by ultrafiltration to remove high molecular weight contaminants. The filtrate was lyophilized, resuspended in 1 N HCl, centrifuged and the resulting clear solution subjected to column chromatography on C18 reversed phase silica gel. Fractions containing domoic acid were pooled, and lyophilized. A brownish dry powder contained pure domoic acid with 60-65% yield from the original tissue homogenate. Another 10-15% of domoic acid was mixed with its isomer, and can be further resolved to obtain an overall recovery of 75-80% of the starting material.

FPLC purification of mouse monoclonal antibodies from ascitic fluid using blue DEAE and thiophilic sorbents

Two fast methods for the purification of mouse monoclonal antibodies from ascites fluids using Blue-DEAE and ‘thiophilic’ adsorbent (T gel) in the FPLC system are described. Blue-DEAE chromatography is useful only for IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b monoclonal antibody purification. T gel is a satisfactory adsorbent for IgG2b purification. Other IgG subclasses and IgM can also be obtained by simple one-step procedures, but the preparations contain small amount of high molecular weight contaminants.

Characterization and fibrin-binding properties of different molecular forms of pro-urokinase from a monkey kidney cell culture

Culture fluid of a monkey kidney cell culture was harvested every two days, for a two week period, in order to obtain urokinase in the zymogen form. Pro-urokinase was isolated by immunoadsorption chromatography and gel filtered on Sephadex G-150, which resulted in three peaks with pro-urokinase activity. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the first peak contained 55 kd pro-urokinase, aggregated with high molecular weight contaminants, whereas the second and third peaks consisted of almost pure 55 kd and 30 kd pro-urokinase, respectively. The latter form represented a relatively unknown and inactive precursor of low molecular weight urokinase, which was, like 55 kd pro-urokinase, activatable with plasmin. In comparison with tissue-type plasminogen activator, 55 kd and 30 kd pro-urokinase only bound weakly to purified fibrin clots and fibrin-sepharose columns. The extent of binding of the two pro-urokinases and their plasmin-activated forms to fibrin-sepharose decreased in the following order: 55 kd pro-urokinase 30 kd pro-urokinase 55 kd urokinase 30 kd urokinase. These results indicate that the two precursors exhibited stronger binding to fibrin-sepharose than the corresponding active enzymes, and the two 55 kd forms exhibited stronger binding than the corresponding 30 kd forms. This indicates the importance of both the zymogen nature and an intact NH2-terminal part of the molecules for binding to fibrin.