Removal of pharmaceutical compounds from urban wastewater by an advanced bio-oxidation process based on fungi Trametes versicolor immobilized in a continuous RBC system

Abstract

Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not able to remove completely some emerging contaminants, such as residual pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) with potential ecotoxicity to water bodies. An advanced bio-oxidation process (ABOP) using white-rot fungi (WRF) has been proposed as alternative biological treatment for degradation of non-biodegradable compounds. A synthetic and real wastewater spiked with 12 PCs at 50 μg L was treated by means of ABOP based on WRF in a rotating biological contactor (RBC) at 1 day of hydraulic retention time (HRT). The ABOP achieved a remarkable biological performance in terms of TOC removal and reduction of N-NH and P-PO nutrients. Likewise, 5 of the 12 PCs were eliminated with removal efficiencies ranging from 80 to 95%, whereas 6 of 12 PCs were eliminated with removal values ranging from 50 to 70%. The anaerobic digestion of the fungal sludge generated upon the treatment was also evaluated, obtaining a methane yield of 250 mL CH g . These results evidenced that the proposed ABOP is a promising alternative for the sustainable wastewater treatment of urban effluents, combining advanced oxidation with biological operation for the removal of emerging PCs and energy recovery.

Enhanced Efficiency of the Removal of Cytostatic Anthracycline Drugs Using Immobilized Mycelium of Bjerkandera adusta CCBAS 930

“…From the application point of view, obtaining immobilized mycelium is faster, easy for application and cheaper than immobilizing the enzyme [33]. Recent studies indicate that the immobilization of white rot fungi contributes to increases in the biosynthesis of oxidoreductases, e.g., peroxidases responsible for the biodegradation and detoxification of xenobiotics, e.g., melanoidin, textile wastewater and pharmaceutical compounds [16,[33][34][35][36]. Immobilized mycelium of B. adusta CCBAS 930 was characterized by an overproduction of horseradish-like (HRP-like) and versatile (VP) peroxidase, which was associated with a 5-fold and 3-fold increase in the effectiveness of melanoid and anthraquinone dyes Alizarin Blue Black B and Acid Blue 129 removal-over 90% and 65.08-56.57% after 7 days, respectively [16,36].…”

Assessment of Trametes versicolor, Isochrysis galbana, and Purple Phototrophic Bacteria for the Removal of Pharmaceutical Compounds in Hospital Wastewater

“…The bottles were injected with 100 mgVSS L -1 of fungal pellets prepared as described previously. Similarly, 0.145 g L -1 Fe 3+ -oxalate hexahydrate, 0.085 g•L -1 gallic acid, and 0.0197 g•L -1 Mn 2+ -nitrate monohydrate were added as advanced bio-oxidation promoters [20][21][22]. Lastly, flasks were incubated for five days at 300 rpm and controlled temperature of 25 °C, as per the previous results obtained in literature [40].…”

“…Among them, the most common in literature are based on biotransformation or biodegradation mediated by different enzymatic systems and on the non-enzymatic process as bio-adsorption and bioprecipitation [19]. Additionally, the other strategy, less reported in the literature, is the so-called advanced bio-oxidation process, which exhibited the ability of Trametes versicolor, a white-rot fungus (WRF), to drive Fenton-like reactions and produce highly oxidizing HO • radicals through extracellular quinone redox cycling mechanisms [20][21][22]. Combining all these mechanisms provides an integral view of the versatility of applying WRF to eliminate a broad spectrum of xenobiotics, including PhACs [23,24].…”

Competitive Adsorption of Anti-Parkinson Drugs on Different Amberlite Resins from Water: Quantitative Analysis by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC)

“…Considering the potential impacts of drugs on the ecosystem and human health, they must be removed from the effluents of the pharmaceutical industries, wastewaters, or aqueous media. 5 Pharmaceutical compounds can be separated from the aqueous media using various methods such as extraction, 6,7 adsorption, 8 biological treatment, 9 photocatalysis, 10 ozonation, 11 Fenton-like reaction, 12,13 oxidation process, 14 photodegradation, 15−18 and membrane separation processes. 19 Among these separation methods, adsorption is broadly utilized, and it has favorable features compared to other methods, such as low capital and operating costs, simple design and ease of use, high separation efficiency, fast kinetics, and sludge deficiency.…”