Biodegradation of naphthalenesulphonate polymers: the potential of a combined application of fungi and bacteria

Abstract

The potential of several fungi and their synergy with bacterial biomasses were evaluated as a solution for the removal of 2-naphthalensulphonic acid polymers (2-NSAPs) from petrochemical wastewater, characterized by a chemical oxygen demand (COD) greater than 9000 mg/L. The ability of fungi to grow on 2-NSAP mixtures was preliminarily investigated using a solid medium, and then the action of the selected strains, both in suspended and immobilized form, was evaluated in terms of degradation, depolymerization, sorption and an increase in biodegradability of 2-NSAP. Among the 25 fungi evaluated two, in particular, Bjerkandera adusta and Pleurotus ostreatus, have been found to significantly depolymerize 2-NSAP yielding to the corresponding monomer (2-naphthalenesulphonic acid, 2-NSA), which has been further degraded by a bacterial consortia selected in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The fungal treatment alone was able to reduce the COD value up to 44%, while activated sludge removed only 9% of the initial COD. In addition, the combined treatment (fungi and bacteria) allowed an increase in the COD removal up to 62%.

Food metabolomics: from farm to human

“…Recently, environmentally friendly food packaging has received increased attention owing to global environmental concerns. Biobased products are the representative environmentally friendly packaging materials and can be produced from renewable resources by microorganisms and plants [69][70][71]. To enhance the production of bio-based products from microorganisms and plants, metabolic engineering is actively used [72].…”

Stability of fungal biomass continuously fed with tannic acid in a non-sterile moving-packed bed reactor

“…dyes) (Baccar et al, 2011), on natural tannins (Spennati et al, 2019) and with real effluents (Natarajan and Manivasagan, 2017). However, at present, only few studies on fungal degradation have been carried out under continuous conditions (Gullotto et al, 2015). Bacterial contamination and limited knowledge of the optimal conditions for fungal degradation have been reported among the main obstacles to the scale-up of fungal-based applications (Palli et al, 2016).…”

Recalcitrant Compounds Removal in Raw Leachate and Synthetic Effluents Using the White-Rot Fungus Bjerkandera adusta

“…Indeed, long-term operations of fungal bioreactors in non-sterile conditions have been demonstrated to be difficult to maintain [5]. This is mainly due to bacterial contamination, which results in competition for available organic substrates, negatively affecting WRF metabolism [19].…”