The paper presents the schemes of various equipment for the mechanical treatment of the industrial and domestic wastewater, which allows removing it from the main part of the pollution. An examination of the shortcomings of the known equipment with the aim of its improvement was conducted. As a result, an installation scheme for continuous high-performance mechanical wastewater treatment was proposed. In contrast to the known equipment, the proposed installation provides a three-staged treatment of wastewater with the help of the two pairs of gratings-for preliminary treatment (removal of large-size pollutions) and by filtration through the two metallic sieves-for normal and fine treatment (removal of small-size mechanical pollutions). The installation consists of highly-efficient appliances for the cleaning of filtering elements in the course of realization of the working process, which provides stable high productivity of treatment. The installation has simple reliable design and low energy expenses. The paper contains the formulas for determining of main operational parameters of the installation: the change of the cross-sectional area of the filtering elements and productivity of the working process, periodicity of cleaning of gratings and sieves, the necessary electric power of installations drives. These formulas can be a basis for further research of installation and for elaboration of a method of its design calculation.

Chlororespiration is the uptake of oxygen into the respiratory electron transport chain (ETC) localized in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts. The chlororespiratory ETC interacts with photosynthetic electron transport and participates in the non-photochemical reduction/oxidation of the plastoquinone pool (PQP) accompanied by O2 consumption. The two key thylakoid enzymes in chlororespiration are the plastid-encoded NAD(P)H dehydrogenase complex (NDH) and the nucleus-encoded terminal plastoquinol oxidase (PTOX). The contribution of chlororespiratory electron flux to the total electron flow in non-stressed plants is considered insignificant. In contrast, under abiotic stresses, chlororespiration appears to be triggered, at least in some photosynthetic organisms, acting as a protective alternative electron transport pathway. There is evidence of NDH complex and PTOX increasing their activity and/or abundance when plants experience high light, drought, heat, or low-temperature stresses. Alternative electron transfer to oxygen via PTOX protects PQP from over-reduction under stress conditions. For instance, it was shown that PTOX-dependent electron drainage accounted for up to 30% of total PSII electron flow in salt-stressed plants. PTOX is not bound to the thylakoid membrane in dark-adapted leaves but is associated with it at intense illumination and high transmembrane proton gradient (ΔpH) or membrane potential (Δψ). It was also shown that PTOX is capable of lateral translocation from stromal lamellae to granal thylakoid stacks under salt stress. Such changes in PTOX localization increase the accessibility of the substrate (plastoquinol) and the turnover rate of the enzyme. The available data allow considering PTOX as a possible target for manipulation to increase stress tolerance in sensitive plants.