Potentials of phototrophic bacteria in treating pharmaceutical wastewater

Abstract

AB STRACT: A suspended growth photobioreactor was utilized to treat pharmaceutical wastewater by a wild strain purple non-sulfur photosynthetic bacterium isolated from the soil. The strain was named Z08 and identified as Rhodobacter-sphaeroides by 16SrDN. The photobioreactor was illuminated externally with two (40 W) fluorescent compact light sources on both sides. Its operation pH and temperature were between 6.8 -7.0 and 20 -30 ºC, respectively. Optimum growth of the isolate was obtained after enrichment of the pharmaceutical wastewater with 0.5 % ammonium sulfate and 0.1 % yeast extract under microaerobic optimum light (6000 lx) condition at 5d retention. Using these optimum conditions, the maximum dry cell weight and chemical oxygen demand percentage removal were 880 mg/L and 80 %. Chemical analysis of the culture after treatment of the enriched and non-enriched wastewater showed the crude protein content of the biomass to be 54.6 % and 38.0 %, respectively. This study proved that photosynthetic bacteria could transform complex wastewater that contains recalcitrant organic compounds with a resultant recovery of useful products.

Treatment options for wastewater effluents from pharmaceutical companies

“…Public awareness were raised after a study sh owed that organic wastewater contaminants, including PPCPs, were present in 80 % of 139 U.S. streams (Kolpin et al, 2002). Although the concentration levels of PPCPs found in the environment are at trace concentrations, their chemical persistence, microbial resistance and synergistic effects are still unknown (Ankley et al, 2007;Madukasi et al, 2010), which is a cause for concern. Moreover, low concentrations can elicit adverse effects on aquatic life (Miege et al, 2008;.…”

A review on characterization and bioremediation of pharmaceutical industries’ wastewater: an Indian perspective

“…adjustment, oxidation, sand filtration (Saleem 2007), ozone use, Fenton's method, coagulation/flocculation, electrocoagulation (Dixit and Parmar 2013), photelectrocoagulation, peroxi-electrocoagulation, peroxi-photelectrocoagulation, sedimentation, membrane separation, UV irradiation, adsorption, chlorination, distillation, solar photo-Fenton, reverse osmosis, bacterial treatments (Madukasi et al 2010), fungal treatment (Spina et al 2012), algal treatment, phytoremediation and methods using membrane bioreactor (MBR) (Chang et al 2008), anaerobic fixed film reactor (AFFR) (Rao et al 2004), aerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) (Patil et al 2013), membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABFR) (Wei et al 2012) and activated sludge (Mayabhate et al 1988). Vanerkar et al (2013) studied the physicochemical treatment of herbal PIWW.…”

“…They collected the samples from nine different points situated in the industry and observed the range of sulphates 44-1,527 mg/l, TDS 484-1,452 mg/l, total suspended solids 24-84 mg/l and COD 1,257.9-1,542.9 mg/l. Madukasi et al (2010) characterized the pharmaceutical wastewater and observed the concentration in mg/l for total suspended solids 425 ± 2.3, total dissolved solids 1,600 ± 1.1, total nitrogen 533.7, BOD 146.7 ± 0.3, Zn 0.056, iron 2.1, Mn 0.605, Cu 0.022, acetic acid 422.7, propionic acid 201.3 and butyric acid 304.5. A suspended growth photobioreactor employing the wild strain of purple nonsulphur photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides was utilized to treat the wastewater.…”

“…They collected samples from nine different points situated in the industry and treated the effluent by using bacterial consortia and achieved reduction in the level of sulphates from 44-1,527 mg/l to 6-65.8 mg/l, TDS from 484-1,452 mg/l to 68-540 mg/l, total suspended solids from 24-84 mg/l to 12-56 mg/l and COD from 1,257.9-1,542.9 mg/l to 113.2-377.6 mg/l. Madukasi et al (2010) used phototropic bacteria named as Rhodobactor spheroids for treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater and achieved 80 % COD removal. Previously, some investigators also achieved a significant COD removal (62 % at 30°C and 38 % at 60°C) in PIWW by using mixed bacterial culture (Lapara et al 2001).…”

“…The recalcitrant molecules survived through the wastewater treatment process and finally discharged into the environment. Although maintenance and housekeeping activities are similar in one plant to another, pharmaceutical industries do not generate uniform waste streams, due to the variety of medicines produced during any given manufacturing process (Kavitha et al 2012;Wei et al 2012;Madukasi et al 2010;Chang et al 2008;Rao et al 2004). Though the volume of untreated or incompletely treated pharmaceutical industry wastewater is small, it contains a high level of pollutants because of the presence of nonbiodegradable organic matter (such as antibiotics, other prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, animal and plant steroids, reproductive hormones, beta-lactamides, anti-inflammatories, analgesics, lipid regulators, anti-depressants, cytostatic agents, personal care products, detergent metabolites, flame retardants, product of oil use and combustion and other extensively used chemicals, i.e.…”