ACS Environmental Au最新文献

{"title":"Plasmid Backbone Impacts Conjugation Rate, Transconjugant Fitness, and Community Assembly of Genetically Bioaugmented Soil Microbes for PAH Bioremediation","authors":"Tessa M. Crosby,&nbsp; and ,&nbsp;Lauren B. Stadler*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c0012310.1021/acsenvironau.4c00123","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00123https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00123","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment resulting from crude oil spills and the incomplete combustion of organic matter are highly toxic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic to microorganisms and humans. Bioremediation of PAHs using microorganisms that encode biodegradative genes is a promising approach for environmental PAH cleanup. However, the viability of exogenous microorganisms is often limited due to competition with the native microbial community. Instead of relying on the survival of one or a few species of bacteria, genetic bioaugmentation harnesses conjugative plasmids that spread functional genes to native microbes. In this study, two plasmid backbones that differ in copy number regulation, replication, and mobilization genes were engineered to contain a PAH dioxygenase gene (<i>bphC</i>) and conjugated to soil bacteria including <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>, <i>Pseudomonas putida</i>, and <i>Acinetobacter</i> sp., as well as a synthetic community assembled from these bacteria. Fitness effects of the plasmids in transconjugants significantly impacted the rates of conjugative transfer and biotransformation rates of a model PAH (2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl). A synergistic effect was observed in which synthetic communities bioaugmented with <i>bphC</i> had significantly higher PAH degradation rates than bacteria grown in monocultures. Finally, conjugation rates were significantly associated with the relative abundances of bacteria in synthetic communities, underscoring how fitness impacts of plasmids can shape the microbial community structure and function.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"241–252 241–252"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00123","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Oxygen Isotope Fractionation of O2 Consumption through Abiotic Photochemical Singlet Oxygen Formation Pathways","authors":"Sarah G. Pati*,&nbsp;Lara M. Brunner,&nbsp;Martin Ley and Thomas B. Hofstetter*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c0010710.1021/acsenvironau.4c00107","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00107https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00107","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Oxygen isotope ratios of O₂ are important tracers for assessing biological activity in biogeochemical processes in aquatic environments. In fact, changes in the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ¹⁷O/¹⁶O ratios of O₂ have been successfully implemented as measures for quantifying photosynthetic O₂ production and biological O₂ respiration. Despite evidence for light-dependent O₂ consumption in sunlit surface waters, however, photochemical O₂ loss processes have so far been neglected in the stable isotope-based evaluation of oxygen cycling. Here, we established the magnitude of the O isotope fractionation for abiotic photochemical O₂ elimination through formation of singlet O₂, ¹O₂, and the ensuing oxygenation and oxidation reactions with organic compounds through experiments with rose bengal as the ¹O₂ sensitizer and three different amino acids and furfuryl alcohol as chemical quenchers. Based on the kinetic analysis of light-dependent O₂ removal in the presence of different quenchers, we rationalize the observable O isotope fractionation of O₂ and the corresponding, apparent ¹⁸O kinetic isotope effects (¹⁸O-AKIE) with a pre-equilibrium model for the reversible formation of ¹O₂ and its irreversible oxygenation reactions with organic compounds. While ¹⁸O-AKIEs of oxygenation reactions amount to 1.03, the O isotope fractionation of O₂ decreased to unity with increasing ratio of the rates of oxygenation reaction of ¹O₂ vs ¹O₂ decay to ground state oxygen, ³O₂. Our findings imply that O isotope fractionation through photochemical O₂ consumption with isotope enrichment factors, ¹⁸O-ϵ, of up to −30‰ can match contributions from biological respiration at typical dissolved organic matter concentrations of lakes, rivers, and oceans and should, therefore, be included in future evaluations of biogeochemical O₂ cycling.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"220–229 220–229"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Oxygen Isotope Fractionation of O₂ Consumption through Abiotic Photochemical Singlet Oxygen Formation Pathways.","authors":"Sarah G Pati, Lara M Brunner, Martin Ley, Thomas B Hofstetter","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00107","DOIUrl":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00107","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Oxygen isotope ratios of O₂ are important tracers for assessing biological activity in biogeochemical processes in aquatic environments. In fact, changes in the ¹⁸O/¹⁶O and ¹⁷O/¹⁶O ratios of O₂ have been successfully implemented as measures for quantifying photosynthetic O₂ production and biological O₂ respiration. Despite evidence for light-dependent O₂ consumption in sunlit surface waters, however, photochemical O₂ loss processes have so far been neglected in the stable isotope-based evaluation of oxygen cycling. Here, we established the magnitude of the O isotope fractionation for abiotic photochemical O₂ elimination through formation of singlet O₂, ¹O₂, and the ensuing oxygenation and oxidation reactions with organic compounds through experiments with rose bengal as the ¹O₂ sensitizer and three different amino acids and furfuryl alcohol as chemical quenchers. Based on the kinetic analysis of light-dependent O₂ removal in the presence of different quenchers, we rationalize the observable O isotope fractionation of O₂ and the corresponding, apparent ¹⁸O kinetic isotope effects (¹⁸O-AKIE) with a pre-equilibrium model for the reversible formation of ¹O₂ and its irreversible oxygenation reactions with organic compounds. While ¹⁸O-AKIEs of oxygenation reactions amount to 1.03, the O isotope fractionation of O₂ decreased to unity with increasing ratio of the rates of oxygenation reaction of ¹O₂ vs ¹O₂ decay to ground state oxygen, ³O₂. Our findings imply that O isotope fractionation through photochemical O₂ consumption with isotope enrichment factors, ¹⁸O-ϵ, of up to -30‰ can match contributions from biological respiration at typical dissolved organic matter concentrations of lakes, rivers, and oceans and should, therefore, be included in future evaluations of biogeochemical O₂ cycling.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"220-229"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11926750/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143693672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plasmid Backbone Impacts Conjugation Rate, Transconjugant Fitness, and Community Assembly of Genetically Bioaugmented Soil Microbes for PAH Bioremediation.","authors":"Tessa M Crosby, Lauren B Stadler","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00123","DOIUrl":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00123","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment resulting from crude oil spills and the incomplete combustion of organic matter are highly toxic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic to microorganisms and humans. Bioremediation of PAHs using microorganisms that encode biodegradative genes is a promising approach for environmental PAH cleanup. However, the viability of exogenous microorganisms is often limited due to competition with the native microbial community. Instead of relying on the survival of one or a few species of bacteria, genetic bioaugmentation harnesses conjugative plasmids that spread functional genes to native microbes. In this study, two plasmid backbones that differ in copy number regulation, replication, and mobilization genes were engineered to contain a PAH dioxygenase gene (<i>bphC</i>) and conjugated to soil bacteria including <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>, <i>Pseudomonas putida</i>, and <i>Acinetobacter</i> sp., as well as a synthetic community assembled from these bacteria. Fitness effects of the plasmids in transconjugants significantly impacted the rates of conjugative transfer and biotransformation rates of a model PAH (2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl). A synergistic effect was observed in which synthetic communities bioaugmented with <i>bphC</i> had significantly higher PAH degradation rates than bacteria grown in monocultures. Finally, conjugation rates were significantly associated with the relative abundances of bacteria in synthetic communities, underscoring how fitness impacts of plasmids can shape the microbial community structure and function.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"241-252"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11926752/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143693675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Non-negligible Organic Carbon Transfer during Organic Pollutant Degradation Processes by Advanced Oxidation Technologies","authors":"Zhuan Chen,&nbsp; and ,&nbsp;Mingyang Xing*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c0006310.1021/acsenvironau.4c00063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00063https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00063","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Heterogeneous Fenton and Fenton-like reactions, as one of the significant development directions of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), still have some limitations that hinder their large-scale practical application. Organic carbon transfer processes (OCTPs) in AOPs including direct oxidation transfer processes (DOTPs) and changes in the solubility of pollutant reaction intermediates can lead to a significant accumulation of organics on the catalyst. The accumulation of organics severely impacts the sustainability of the catalyst and may lead to erroneous guidance about the mineralization rate of the reaction system. This perspective provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on OCTPs and presents new viewpoints and research directions for heterogeneous AOPs.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"148–151 148–151"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00063","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Non-negligible Organic Carbon Transfer during Organic Pollutant Degradation Processes by Advanced Oxidation Technologies.","authors":"Zhuan Chen, Mingyang Xing","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00063","DOIUrl":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Heterogeneous Fenton and Fenton-like reactions, as one of the significant development directions of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), still have some limitations that hinder their large-scale practical application. Organic carbon transfer processes (OCTPs) in AOPs including direct oxidation transfer processes (DOTPs) and changes in the solubility of pollutant reaction intermediates can lead to a significant accumulation of organics on the catalyst. The accumulation of organics severely impacts the sustainability of the catalyst and may lead to erroneous guidance about the mineralization rate of the reaction system. This perspective provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on OCTPs and presents new viewpoints and research directions for heterogeneous AOPs.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"148-151"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11926745/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143693661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of Natural Organic Matter and Humic Substance Isolates by Size Exclusion Chromatography following Reduction with Sodium Borohydride","authors":"Hang Li,&nbsp;Blair Hanson and Garrett McKay*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c0007510.1021/acsenvironau.4c00075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00075https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00075","url":null,"abstract":"<p >Chemical reduction with sodium borohydride has been used for over four decades to probe the presence and function of carbonyl-containing moieties in dissolved organic matter (DOM). One of these structure–property relationships is the attenuation of UV–visible absorbance after borohydride reduction, an effect that has been observed universally across DOM of different origins. We previously demonstrated that DOM with similar bulk physicochemical properties exhibits bifurcating reactivity with borohydride depending on the source (i.e., soil vs. aquatic), as judged by the kinetics of fractional absorbance removal during reduction at a fixed borohydride:DOM mass ratio. This result and data from other studies suggest that a portion of borohydride-reducible chromophores in DOM may be inaccessible to the water solvent, explaining the incomplete absorbance attenuation even at very high borohydride mass excesses. Here, we study the reactivity of five DOM isolates with sodium borohydride via size exclusion chromatography coupled to total organic carbon, absorbance, and fluorescence detectors. Reduction with sodium borohydride resulted in quantifiable yet exceedingly small decreases in DOM molecular weight, suggesting that the reduction of carbonyl groups to alcohols does not markedly impact the DOM secondary structure. Interestingly, higher molecular weight DOM exhibited the most prominent changes in optical properties after reduction, suggesting that larger molecules contain a high proportion of borohydride-reducible moieties. Optical surrogates were inversely correlated to molecular weight across a single isolate, both native and reduced. However, the correlation broke down at lower molecular weights, wherein optical surrogates remained constant with continued decreases in elution volume, suggesting that there is an intrinsic lower limit to the ability of optical surrogates to capture further decreases in molecular weight. Overall, these results provide insights into the DOM structure and help inform future applications of sodium borohydride for studying the DOM source and reactivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"197–210 197–210"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00075","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of Natural Organic Matter and Humic Substance Isolates by Size Exclusion Chromatography following Reduction with Sodium Borohydride.","authors":"Hang Li, Blair Hanson, Garrett McKay","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00075","DOIUrl":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00075","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chemical reduction with sodium borohydride has been used for over four decades to probe the presence and function of carbonyl-containing moieties in dissolved organic matter (DOM). One of these structure-property relationships is the attenuation of UV-visible absorbance after borohydride reduction, an effect that has been observed universally across DOM of different origins. We previously demonstrated that DOM with similar bulk physicochemical properties exhibits bifurcating reactivity with borohydride depending on the source (i.e., soil vs. aquatic), as judged by the kinetics of fractional absorbance removal during reduction at a fixed borohydride:DOM mass ratio. This result and data from other studies suggest that a portion of borohydride-reducible chromophores in DOM may be inaccessible to the water solvent, explaining the incomplete absorbance attenuation even at very high borohydride mass excesses. Here, we study the reactivity of five DOM isolates with sodium borohydride via size exclusion chromatography coupled to total organic carbon, absorbance, and fluorescence detectors. Reduction with sodium borohydride resulted in quantifiable yet exceedingly small decreases in DOM molecular weight, suggesting that the reduction of carbonyl groups to alcohols does not markedly impact the DOM secondary structure. Interestingly, higher molecular weight DOM exhibited the most prominent changes in optical properties after reduction, suggesting that larger molecules contain a high proportion of borohydride-reducible moieties. Optical surrogates were inversely correlated to molecular weight across a single isolate, both native and reduced. However, the correlation broke down at lower molecular weights, wherein optical surrogates remained constant with continued decreases in elution volume, suggesting that there is an intrinsic lower limit to the ability of optical surrogates to capture further decreases in molecular weight. Overall, these results provide insights into the DOM structure and help inform future applications of sodium borohydride for studying the DOM source and reactivity.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"197-210"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11926756/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143693622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wax Coatings for Paper Packaging Applications: Study of the Coating Effect on Surface, Mechanical, and Barrier Properties.","authors":"Fatemeh Jahangiri, Amar Mohanty, Akhilesh Kumar Pal, Ryan Clemmer, Stefano Gregori, Manjusri Misra","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00055","DOIUrl":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00055","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess the effect of environmentally friendly wax coatings, including beeswax, soywax, TopScreen biowax, and a conventional water-based emulsion wax on paper for food packaging applications. A food-grade paper was bar-coated with a single layer of molten wax on both sides, varying in the coating weight, coating thickness, and wax type. Waxes were thoroughly characterized in terms of their functional groups, thermal properties, degree of crystallinity, and crystal morphology using polarized optical microscopy. Thereafter, wax-coated papers were studied in terms of their morphological, mechanical, and water vapor barrier properties. Moreover, the water and oil contact angles were measured to determine the resistance of wax-coated papers to moisture and grease penetration. Wax coatings represent 10-25% of the weight of the coated paper, with a coating thickness of 5-10 μm. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that waxes penetrated the cellulosic fibers of the paper, thereby effectively reducing its porous structure. Water and oil contact angles of the uncoated paper increased after the wax coating. Among the four waxes, beeswax-coated paper was characterized as having superior capability in improving the water vapor barrier of the uncoated paper (by ∼77%). While the percentage elongation at break (EB %) decreased for all four wax-coated papers, tensile strength (TS) and elastic modulus (<i>E</i>) increased, with beeswax showing the highest percent improvement in TS (by ∼26%) and <i>E</i> (by ∼46%). Our results suggest that paper surface modification through ecofriendly wax coatings can be utilized as an alternative for petroleum-based paper coating materials for food packaging applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"165-182"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11926751/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143693682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Wax Coatings for Paper Packaging Applications: Study of the Coating Effect on Surface, Mechanical, and Barrier Properties","authors":"Fatemeh Jahangiri,&nbsp;Amar Mohanty*,&nbsp;Akhilesh Kumar Pal,&nbsp;Ryan Clemmer,&nbsp;Stefano Gregori and Manjusri Misra*,&nbsp;","doi":"10.1021/acsenvironau.4c0005510.1021/acsenvironau.4c00055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00055https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00055","url":null,"abstract":"<p >The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess the effect of environmentally friendly wax coatings, including beeswax, soywax, TopScreen biowax, and a conventional water-based emulsion wax on paper for food packaging applications. A food-grade paper was bar-coated with a single layer of molten wax on both sides, varying in the coating weight, coating thickness, and wax type. Waxes were thoroughly characterized in terms of their functional groups, thermal properties, degree of crystallinity, and crystal morphology using polarized optical microscopy. Thereafter, wax-coated papers were studied in terms of their morphological, mechanical, and water vapor barrier properties. Moreover, the water and oil contact angles were measured to determine the resistance of wax-coated papers to moisture and grease penetration. Wax coatings represent 10–25% of the weight of the coated paper, with a coating thickness of 5–10 μm. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that waxes penetrated the cellulosic fibers of the paper, thereby effectively reducing its porous structure. Water and oil contact angles of the uncoated paper increased after the wax coating. Among the four waxes, beeswax-coated paper was characterized as having superior capability in improving the water vapor barrier of the uncoated paper (by ∼77%). While the percentage elongation at break (EB %) decreased for all four wax-coated papers, tensile strength (TS) and elastic modulus (<i>E</i>) increased, with beeswax showing the highest percent improvement in TS (by ∼26%) and <i>E</i> (by ∼46%). Our results suggest that paper surface modification through ecofriendly wax coatings can be utilized as an alternative for petroleum-based paper coating materials for food packaging applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":29801,"journal":{"name":"ACS Environmental Au","volume":"5 2","pages":"165–182 165–182"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/epdf/10.1021/acsenvironau.4c00055","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143641177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}