Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria play a key role in the global nitrogen cycle and in nitrogenous wastewater treatment. The anammox bacteria ultrastructure is unique and distinctly different from that of other prokaryotic cells. The morphological structure of an organism is related to its function; however, research on the ultrastructure of intact anammox bacteria is lacking. In this study, in situ three-dimensional nondestructive ultrastructure imaging of a whole anammox cell was performed using synchrotron soft X-ray tomography (SXT) and the total variation-based simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (TV-SART). Statistical and quantitative analyses of the intact anammox bacteria were performed. High soft X-ray absorption composition inside anammoxosome was detected and verified to be relevant to iron-binding protein. On this basis, the shape adaptation of the anammox bacteria response to iron was explored.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) was a wildely planted root crop in most area of China and considered as a good feedstock for fuel ethanol production. Very high gravity ethanol fermentation technology exhibited promising industrial application for advantages including productivity improvement, polluted water output reduction and energy consumption saving. In this study very high gravity liquefied sweet potato mash containing 260 g/kg glucose (after fully saccharified) was used for fuel ethanol fermentation. 0.8 g/kg (dry matter weight) was proved as the optimum glucoamylase adding dosage in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Datas analysis indicated that the osmotic pressure was controlled strictly exhibited by high growth rate of yeast and high rate of ethanol formation comparing with other dosages, and 119.78 g/kg (15.07 %, v/v) ethanol equivalent to 90.16 % of theoretical yield was achieved in 64 hours.

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Fuel ethanol converted from biomass is a reliable substitute for fossil fuels, and lays people’s hope on the sustainable development in the fields of energy and climate. The limitation in source of raw materials and production cost are bottlenecks which restrain the wide use of fuel ethanol. This article makes an overview of the current research progress in the new technologies from the directions in the exploiting of raw materials and energy saving and polluted water emission reduction in the production process of fuel ethanol, and analyzes the potential application prospects and advantages of various new technologies.

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