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Sustainable generation of bioethanol from sugarcane wastes by Streptomyces coelicolor strain COB KF977550 isolated from a tropical estuary
Get PDFThe damaging effect and challenges associated with the use of fossil fuel is enormous and very
costly. Biofuels could be obtained from plant biomass wastes which are known to be sources of
environmental pollution and breeding grounds for vectors of diseases. Sugarcane bagasse was
exploited as a renewable substrate for obtaining bioethanol using Streptomyces strain COB
KF977550 as inoculum. Submerged aerobic batch fermentation was performed in flasks
containing mineral salts medium supplemented with 5.0 g (w/v) sugarcane bagasse. Incubation
was done in a shaker (150 rpm) at 30 oC for 21 days. Microbial growth was assessed by
measurement of the optical density (O.D 600nm) at 3-day intervals. Fractional distillation was
carried out in batch mode using a simple fractional distillation setup. Metabolic products were
determined using GC-FID. Further analyses were performed using FTIR and GC-MS. The
optical density of S.coelicolor strain COB KF977550 increased from 0.9 to 1.41. The GC-FID
showed that 43.08 g/L ethanol was generated. Interestingly, the results showed the presence of
diverse biochemicals released into the medium in addition to the main product ethanol. Ten
carboxylic acids including formic acid, glycolic acid, tartaric acid, acetic acid, citric acid, oxalic
acid, malic acid, lactic acid, n-valeric acid, and 3-hydroxybutyric acid were identified as
biochemical organic acids by-products
Microparticles and microplastics contamination in African table salts
Get PDFStaff PublicationThe presence of micro/plastic particles has been reported in various seafood products. However, information on
microplastics contamination in salts from African continent is very limited. This study analysed 23 brands of
table salts from 8 African countries for microplastics using microscopic/spectroscopic techniques. South Africa
showed the highest microplastics concentration (0–1.33 ± 0.32 particles/kg), Nigeria, Cameroun, and Ghana
(0–0.33 ± 0.38 particles/kg each); characterized as polyvinyl acetate, polypropylene, and polyethylene. Other
countries have no detectable microplastics at 0.3 μm filter pore size. To our best knowledge, this is the first study
to characterize micro-fibres/plastics in table salts across African countries, confirming that it is an emission
source of micro-fibres/plastics into the human food chain, highlighting the overarching need to understand their
effects on human health
Taxonomic profiling of bacteria and fungi in freshwater sewer receiving hospital wastewater
Get PDFConsistent discharges of hospital wastewaters (HWWs) pose ecological risk to the biome of the receiving environment with cumulative effect on its healthiness. Understanding the taxonomic profile of microorganisms in the impacted systems is required to establish taxa that are bio-indicators of toxicants, and provide possible taxa for mitigating ecotoxicity of the HWWs. Geochemistry, pollution status and ecotoxicity of heavy metals (HMs) in HWW-impacted sewer (LU) were assessed. The microbiome profiling was based on 16S rDNA and ITS of 18S rDNA metagenomes. The degree of HMs contamination exceeded 50 and HMs pollution load index of LU was severe (1,084), which consequently exerted severe risk (1,411,575 toxic response factors) with very high toxic responses of Co, Cu, Pb, and Cd. Eco-toxicological impact of the HMs on LU skewed microbiome towards Proteobacteria (43%), Actinobacteria (18%), and about 5% apiece for Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Plantomycetes, and Bacteroidetes. Likewise, the relative abundance of in LU inclined towards Ascomycota (59%), Basidiomycota (17%) and unclassified Eukarya_uc_p (16%). Exclusively found in LU sediments were 44,862 bacterial species and 42,881 fungi taxa, while 72,877 and 53,971 species of bacteria and fungi, respectively, were found missing. Extinction and emergence of bacteria and fungi taxa in LU were in response to HMs ecotoxicity and the need for natural attenuation processes respectively. The profiled taxa in LU may be plausible in bioremediation strategies of the impacted system, and in designing knowledge-based bioreactor system for the treatment of HWWs before discharge into the environment
Flood Vulnerability and Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Yenagoa and Its Environs, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Get PDFStaff PublicationThe perennial flooding in Bayelsa State and its attendant threats to life, property and socio-economic existence have been a
major problem for the inhabitants and Government. This study was undertaken to assess the flood vulnerability and risks posed by it to
Yenagoa and its environs, using Remote Sensing and GIS applications. The study covered 16 towns - 14 in Yenagoa Local Government
Area, Opuama in Nembe and Ogbia in Ogbia Local Government Areas. It was discovered that all the towns covered were more vulnerable to
flood with increasing severity in places with elevation ranging between 5-15.5m above sea level while places with elevation ranging between
15.5-26m above sea level were ranked as very highly vulnerable to flood based on standard proedures. The study area exhibited similar soil
compositions like alluvial soil, silty clay, floodplain soil and others which combine with heavy annual rainfall pattern in the area to enhance
flooding. Risk assessment of the study area showed that public utilities, services, business and commercial activities and general
infrastructures were at a high risk of flood vulnerability due to their location in the nucleus of Yenagoa, known for high flood vulnerability. The
outcome of this study provide relevant information useful for planning purposes by government and corporate bodies as well as their
preparedness and response to flood in the State
Microbial quality of utility water at universities in Nigeria
Get PDFStaff PublicationAims: Water is described as safe and wholesome when it is free from pathogenic microorganisms and chemical
substances that are hazardous to human health. This study aimed to investigate the microbial quality of water used for
drinking, cooking, bathing and other purposes at universities in Nigeria.
Methodology and results: Water samples were collected from forty-four storage tanks across four selected
universities. Total viable bacteria in the water samples were cultivated using the plate count agar. The isolation of total
coliform and Escherichia coli were carried out on Harlequin™ E. coli/coliform agar (HA) medium, while media-faecal
coliform was used for faecal coliform employing the membrane filtration technique. Physicochemical parameters such as
alkalinity, pH, total alkalinity, total dissolved solid, total suspended solid, electrical conductivity, total hardness, fluoride
and chloride ion concentrations, were evaluated in accordance with standard procedures. Data were compared
statistically using MedCalc statistical software. Considering the heterotrophic bacterial counts, all water samples were
unsatisfactory. For the total coliform counts, 50% of samples were satisfactory but suspicious, while remaining 50%
were unsatisfactory. Faecal coliforms results showed that 50% of samples gave excellent quality, 25% showed
satisfactory but suspicious quality, while 25% showed unsatisfactory result. There were no significant differences in the
total viable, total coliform and E. coli counts of water sampled from universities A and D (p>0.05). The predominant
bacterial species was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (23.17%), while the least encountered was Salmonella typhimurium
(2.44%). All physicochemical parameters tested were within the acceptable limit.
Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This study revealed that the water used by students of studied
universities was contaminated with potential bacterial pathogens. However, all physicochemical parameters tested were
within the permissible standard limits and satisfied the requirements for domestic utility
Climate Action in Nigeria: An Analysis
Get PDFW
ITH rising greenhouse gas
emissions, climate change is
occurring at rates much faster than
anticipated and its effects are being clearly
felt worldwide.
Nigeria, as a developing country with a
population of about 180 million, has been
adversely impacted by climate change due
to obvious vulnerability and low coping
capability. Consequently, on December 12,
2015, during a United Nations-sponsored
meeting in Paris, COP21, dubbed 'Paris
Agreement', Nigeria joined 194 other
countries to make a historic pledge to
reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
To demonstrate Nigeria's commitment to the pledge, on March 28, 2017
President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Instrument of Ratification of the
Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which was approved by the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on May 16,
2017. The Paris Agreement entered into force on June 15, 2017.
Ranked amongst the top 25 Green-House Gas (GHG) Emitting Countries,
Nigeria is required to mobilize its citizens and other stakeholders for the
effective implementation of measures to reach the target of a 20 percent
unconditional reduction in green-house gas emissions by 2030, and to
implement policies that will enable the country to reach the goal of 100
percent renewable energy by 2050.
In this edition of the SDGs Monitor, we appraise Nigeria's
implementation of goal number 13 of the United Nations' Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), which is Climate Action (SDG13). Our
assessment of Nigeria's efforts to attain the targets of SDG13 shows that
the country's emission reduction strategy focuses on such key sectors as
Energy, Oil and Gas, Agriculture and Land Use, Power, and Transport.
However, based on the fact that the 2016 Climate Change Vulnerability
Index (CCVI) classifies Nigeria as one of the ten countries in the world
which are most vulnerable to climate change, the country is not on track
with respect to achieving SDG 13.
The analysis by our consultant, Daniel A. Omoweh, a Professor of
International Relations at Western Delta University, Oghara and former
Associate Research Professor at the Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs, reveals that the Nigerian government has approached the discourse
on climate change with its usual approach, namely limiting consideration of
such a critical development issue to ministries and parastatals. The study
recommends that since climate change is about the environment, which is
an international public good, it requires input from the people, civil society,
the private sector and the media to put Nigeria on the path to attaining SDG
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Adsorption isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamic studies of methylene blue dye removal using Raphia taedigera seed activated carbon
Get PDFStaff PublicationThis present work revealed the isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic behaviour of methylene blue (MB) dye
adsorbed onto acidic activated carbon (AAC) and base activated carbon (BAC) prepared from Raphia taedigera
seed by carbonization and chemical activation. AAC and BAC were activated with sulphuric acid and sodium
hydroxide respectively. Batch equilibrium studies were done under different experimental conditions such as MB
dye concentration and temperature. The equilibrium data were modelled using Langmuir, Freundlich, Elovich,
Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherms. The Langmuir isotherm model best describes the uptake of MB
dye onto AAC and BAC with R
2 > 0.998 in all cases. The pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion equations were used to evaluate the kinetic properties. It was observed that the adsorption of
MB dye onto the two activated carbons could best be described by the pseudo-second order equation with 0.999
< R
2 ≤ 1. Thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy (ΔG0
), standard enthalpy (ΔH0
), standard entropy
(ΔS0
), and activation energy (Ea) were determined. The results of ΔG0
indicated a spontaneous and feasible for
AAC and non-spontaneous but feasible for BAC. Results of ΔH0
confirmed that the adsorption of MB onto AAC
and BAC are endothermic and physical in nature. It can be concluded that AAC and BAC prepared from Raphia
taedigera seed could be used as low-cost adsorbent for the removal of MB dye from the wastewater
Potentials of Hydrocarbon Utilization by Wood-Digesting Bacteria Isolated from the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria
Get PDFThere is a continuous search for environmental–friendly methods to address oil-polluted environments, hence this study aimed to establish the potential of using tropical estuarine bacterial strains for degradation of crude oil in polluted environ-ment. Microbial degradation of hydrocarbons has been considered a promising, natural, less toxic and cost-effective technology. Lignocellulose-utilizing bacterial strains (Bacillus megaterium strain NOB, Streptomyces pseudogriseolus strain EOB and Paenibacillus sp. strains ROB) were isolated from decomposing wood residues in a tropical lagoon. They were identified on the basis of morphological and biochemical characteristics, observation under scanning electron microscope and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Microbial growth assessment coupled with bio-surfactant production were performed in triplicates under aerobic batch conditions in Erlenmeyer flasks containing mineral salts medium fortified with trace elements and crude oil as the sole carbon source. The generation times of strains NOB, EOB and ROB were 28.3, 44.9 and 46.8 h respectively; with specific growth rates of 14.2, 8.9 and 8.6 h-1, respectively on crude oil. Gas chromatographic analysis of residual hydrocarbons from the growth cultures of isolates revealed that the three strains had degraded the oil by 89.34, 86.33 and 79.37%, respectively at the end of 21 days. The cell hydrophobicity of the bacterial strains also reached 83.6, 79.4 and 69.4%, respectively. The results from this study suggest that wood-digesting bacterial strains from a tropical lagoon possess hydrocarbon utilization capabili-ties. They could therefore have potentials for deployment in the bioremediation of petrochemical spills in polluted environments
Utilization of Tannic Acid by Bacteria in Tropical Aquatic and Soil Environments
Get PDFTwo bacterial strains designated as EO1 and EO2, were isolated by selective culture enrichment from Lagos lagoon water and mangrove soil samples. They were subsequently identified based on morphological and physiological characteristics as well as 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Klebsiella pneumoniae strain EO1 and Pantoea cypripedii strain EO2 with accession numbers KX355800 and KX355801. Microbial growth assessment was performed in triplicates under aerobic batch conditions. The two isolates were capable of
utilizing tannic acid, gallic acid, glucose, succinate, benzoic acid, and protocatechuic acid as sole carbon sources. Growth experiments along with enzymatic studies indicated that the organisms hydrolyzed tannic acid through gallic acid and pyrogallol as metabolic intermediates. The organisms have potential for the elimination of polyphenolic pollutants such as gallotannins associated with wood residues in Nigerian estuarine environments
Science communication and collaboration for Open Science: Tools and Platforms for Internationalising Nigerian Research
Get PDFA presentation.The presentation covers the following concepts
– Science Communication (Science In-reach)
– Open science
– Internationalisation and other Issues with African
research
• Way Forward for Nigeria
• Platforms and Tools for Collaboration and
Visibility
– Open Journal System
– Open Science Framewor