Unraveling the potential of a combined nitritation-anammox biomass towards the biodegradation of pharmaceutically active compounds

Kassotaki, Elissavet; Pijuan, Maite; Joss, Adriano; Borrego, Carles M.; Rodríguez-Roda, Ignasi; Buttiglieri, Gianluigi

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.116

Cited by 30 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In addition to chemical properties, the higher the concentration of pharmaceuticals and other OMPs in the influent of WWTPs, the more these compounds seem to be removed (Nolte et al ., 2018; Wang et al ., 2020). The same compound can also have different removal rates/efficiencies in different WWTPs, which may depend on the operational parameters and the active microbial community present (Lautz et al ., 2017; Kassotaki et al ., 2018; Wang et al ., 2020). For example, nitrifying activities have been correlated with the biodegradation of several OMPs, which might be due to the promiscuity of the ammonia monooxygenase enzyme (Tran et al ., 2009; Fernandez‐Fontaina et al ., 2012; Men et al ., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of concentration and hydraulic reaction time on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds in a membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge

Rios‐Miguel

Jetten

Welte

2021

Microbial Biotechnology

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Pharmaceuticals are often not fully removed in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and are thus being detected at trace levels in water bodies all over the world posing a risk to numerous organisms. These organic micropollutants (OMPs) reach WWTPs at concentrations sometimes too low to serve as growth substrate for microorganisms; thus, co-metabolism is thought to be the main conversion mechanism. In this study, the microbial removal of six pharmaceuticals was investigated in a membrane bioreactor at increasing concentrations (4-800 nM) of the compounds and using three different hydraulic retention times (HRT; 1, 3.5 and 5 days). The bioreactor was inoculated with activated sludge from a municipal WWTP and fed with ammonium, acetate and methanol as main growth substrates to mimic co-metabolism. Each pharmaceutical had a different average removal efficiency: acetaminophen (100%) > fluoxetine (50%) > metoprolol (25%) > diclofenac (20%) > metformin (15%) > carbamazepine (10%). Higher pharmaceutical influent concentrations proportionally increased the removal rate of each compound, but surprisingly not the removal percentage. Furthermore, only metformin removal improved to 80-100% when HRT or biomass concentration was increased. Microbial community changes were followed with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in response to the increment of pharmaceutical concentration: Nitrospirae and Planctomycetes 16S rRNA relative gene abundance decreased, whereas Acidobacteria and Bacteroidetes increased. Remarkably, the Dokdonella genus, previously implicated in acetaminophen metabolism, showed a 30-fold increase in abundance at the highest concentration of pharmaceuticals applied. Taken together, these results suggest that the incomplete removal of most pharmaceutical compounds in WWTPs is dependent on neither concentration nor reaction time. Accordingly, we propose a chemical equilibrium or a growth substrate limitation as the responsible mechanisms of the incomplete removal. Finally, Dokdonella could be the main acetaminophen degrader under activated sludge conditions, and non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals might still be toxic to relevant WWTP bacteria.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of concentration and hydraulic reaction time on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds in a membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge

Rios‐Miguel

Jetten

Welte

2021

Microbial Biotechnology

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“…For instance, sulfamethoxazole can be biotransformed at a high extent under anaerobic conditions, due to the presence of electron-withdrawing groups, such as sulfonyl, which is easily degraded under reductive conditions [11]. On the other hand, ibuprofen is a readily biotransformable OMP under aerobic conditions [12], especially favored when nitrification takes place due to its hydroxylation by the action of the enzyme ammonia monooxygenase (AMO) to produce 2-hydroxy-ibuprofen [13]. However, the branched substitutions existing on the paraposition of the aromatic ring hampers its biotransformation under anaerobic redox potentials [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An innovative wastewater treatment technology based on UASB and IFAS for cost-efficient macro and micropollutant removal

Arias

Alvarino

Allegue

et al. 2018

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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An innovative process based on the combination of a UASB reactor and an IFAS system is proposed in order to combine different redox conditions and biomass conformations to promote a high microbial diversity. The objective of this configuration is to enhance the biological removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs) as well as to achieve the abatement of nitrogen by using the dissolved methane as an inexpensive electron donor. Results showed high removals of COD (93%) and dissolved methane present in the UASB effluent (up to 85%) was biodegraded by a consortium of aerobic methanotrophs and heterotrophic denitrifiers. Total nitrogen removal decreased slightly along the operation (from 44 to 33%), depending on the availability of electron donor, biomass concentration, and configuration (floccules and biofilm). A high removal was achieved in the hybrid system (>80%) for 6 of the studied OMPs. Sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, naproxen, and estradiol were readily biotransformed under anaerobic conditions, whereas ibuprofen or bisphenol A were removed in the anoxic-aerobic compartment. Evidence of the cometabolic biotransformation of OMPs has been found, such as the influence of nitrification activity on the removal of bisphenol A, and of the denitrification activity on ethinylestradiol removal.

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“…Furthermore, the former study also observed an enhancement of metoprolol removal with more dissolved organic matter and a decrease in removal during nitrification. This was further confirmed by a different experiment with partial nitritation-anammox biomass where metoprolol removal was higher under aerobic heterotrophic conditions than under nitrifying conditions (Kassotaki et al, 2018).…”

Section: Pharmaceutical Removal At Increasing Concentrationsmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…In addition to chemical properties, the higher the concentration of pharmaceuticals and other OMPs in the influent of WWTPs, the more these compounds seem to be removed (Nolte et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2020). The same compound can also have different removal rates/efficiencies in different WWTPs which may depend on the operational parameters and the active microbial community present (Kassotaki et al, 2018;Lautz et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2020). For example, nitrifying activities have been correlated to the biodegradation of several OMPs which might be due to the promiscuity of the ammonia monooxygenase enzyme (Fernandez-Fontaina et al, 2012;Men et al, 2017;Tran et al, 2009) Currently, WWTPs are not very effective at removing OMPs because microorganisms do not share an evolutionary history with these compounds that have only been introduced into the environment in the last decades.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of concentration and hydraulic reaction time on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds in a membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge

Rios‐Miguel

Jetten

Welte

2021

Preprint

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Pharmaceuticals are often not fully removed in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and are thus being detected at trace levels in water bodies all over the world posing a risk to numerous organisms. These organic micropollutants (OMPs) reach WWTPs at concentrations sometimes too low to serve as growth substrate for microorganisms, thus co-metabolism is thought to be the main conversion mechanism. In this study, the microbial removal of six pharmaceuticals was investigated in a membrane bioreactor at increasing concentrations (4-800 nM) of the compounds and using three different hydraulic retention times (HRT; 1, 3.5, 5 days). The bioreactor was inoculated with activated sludge from a Dutch WWTP and fed with ammonium, acetate, and methanol as main growth substrates to stimulate and mimic co-metabolism in a WWTP. Each pharmaceutical compound had a different average removal efficiency: acetaminophen (100%) > fluoxetine (50%) > metoprolol (25%) > diclofenac (20%) > metformin (15%) > carbamazepine (10%). Higher pharmaceutical influent concentrations proportionally increased the removal rate of each compound, but surprisingly not the removal percentage. Furthermore, only metformin removal improved to 80-100% when HRT or biomass concentration was increased in the reactor. Microbial community changes were followed with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in response to the increment of supplied pharmaceutical concentration: it was found that Nitrospirae and Planctomycetes 16S rRNA relative gene abundance decreased, whereas Acidobacteria and Bacteroidetes increased. Remarkably, the Dokdonella genus, previously implicated in acetaminophen metabolism, showed a 30-fold increase in abundance at the highest (800 nM) concentration of pharmaceuticals applied. Taken together, these results suggest that the incomplete removal of most pharmaceutical compounds in WWTPs is neither dependent on concentration nor HRT. Accordingly, we propose a chemical equilibrium or a growth substrate limitation as the responsible mechanisms of the incomplete removal. Finally, Dokdonella could be the main acetaminophen degrader under activated sludge conditions, and non-antimicrobial pharmaceuticals might still be toxic to relevant WWTP bacteria.

show abstract

Unraveling the potential of a combined nitritation-anammox biomass towards the biodegradation of pharmaceutically active compounds

Cited by 30 publications

References 40 publications

Effect of concentration and hydraulic reaction time on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds in a membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge

Effect of concentration and hydraulic reaction time on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds in a membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge

An innovative wastewater treatment technology based on UASB and IFAS for cost-efficient macro and micropollutant removal

Effect of concentration and hydraulic reaction time on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds in a membrane bioreactor inoculated with activated sludge

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