Improving Biodegradation of Clofibric Acid by Trametes pubescens through the Design of Experimental Tools

Microbial degradation and transformation of PPCPs in aquatic environment: A review

The Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) presence at harmful levels has been identified in aquatic ecosystems all over the world. Currently, PPCPs are more common in aquatic regions and have been discovered to be extremely harmful to aquatic creatures. Waste-water treatment facilities are the primary cause of PPCPs pollution in aquatic systems due to their limited treatment as well as the following the release of PPCPs. The degree of PPCPs elimination is primarily determined by the method applied for the remediation. It must be addressed in an eco-friendly manner in order to significantly improve the environmental quality or, at the very least, to prevent the spread as well as effects of toxic pollutants. However, when compared to other methods, environmentally friendly strategies (biological methods) are less expensive and require less energy. Most biological methods under aerobic conditions have been shown to degrade PPCPs effectively. Furthermore, the scientific literature indicates that with the exception of a few extremely hydrophobic substances, biological degradation by microbes is the primary process for the majority of PPCPs compounds. Hence, this review discusses about the optimistic role of microbe concerned in the degradation or transformation of PPCPs into non/less toxic form in the polluted environment. Accordingly, more number of microbial strains has been implicated in the biodegradation/transformation of harmful PPCPs through a process termed as bioremediation and their limitations.

Urea-Assisted Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2 Photocatalysts for the Efficient Removal of Clofibric Acid from Water

Mesoporous TiO₂ photocatalysts intended for the advanced removal of clofibric acid (CA) from water were synthesized by the sol-gel method in a medium containing cetyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) and urea, using either ethanol or isopropanol to dilute the TiO₂ precursor. The activation of the samples was undertaken at 550, 650 and 750 °C. The XRD revealed that the nature of the solvent resulted in significant differences in the anatase-to-rutile ratios obtained at different temperatures. The specific surface area values were situated between 9 and 43 m²·g⁻¹ and the band gap values were similar for all the samples. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples was examined for the degradation of CA, an emergent water contaminant. The photocatalytic tests performed under UV-A irradiation revealed that the photo-reactivity of these materials depends on the calcination temperature. The best results were obtained for the samples calcined at 750 °C, which showed high yields of CA elimination, as well as almost complete mineralization (over 95%) after 180 min of reaction. Good results in terms of catalyst reusability in the reaction were found for the catalyst showing the highest photo-reactivity. Therefore, the samples can be considered good candidates for future water remediation applications.

Sustainable Application of Biosorption and Bioaccumulation of Persistent Pollutants in Wastewater Treatment: Current Practice

Persistent toxic substances including persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals have been released in high quantities in surface waters by industrial activities. Their presence in environmental compartments is causing harmful effects both on the environment and human health. It was shown that their removal from wastewaters using conventional methods and adsorbents is not always a sustainable process. In this circumstance, the use of microorganisms for pollutants uptake can be seen as being an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective strategy for the treatment of industrial effluents. However, in spite of their confirmed potential in the remediation of persistent pollutants, microorganisms are not yet applied at industrial scale. Thus, the current paper aims to synthesize and analyze the available data from literature to support the upscaling of microbial-based biosorption and bioaccumulation processes. The industrial sources of persistent pollutants, the microbial mechanisms for pollutant uptake and the significant results revealed so far in the scientific literature are identified and covered in this review. Moreover, the influence of different parameters affecting the performance of the discussed systems and also very important in designing of treatment processes are highly considered. The analysis performed in the paper offers an important perspective in making decisions for scaling-up and efficient operation, from the life cycle assessment point of view of wastewater microbial bioremediation. This is significant since the sustainability of the microbial-based remediation processes through standardized methodologies such as life cycle analysis (LCA), hasn’t been analyzed yet in the scientific literature.

Towards a Better Understanding of the Removal of Carbamazepine by Ankistrodesmus braunii: Investigation of Some Key Parameters

Nowadays, water pollution by pharmaceuticals is a major issue that needs an urgent solution, as these compounds, even when found at trace or ultra-trace levels, could have harmful effects on organisms. Carbamazepine (CBZ) is a pharmaceutical product that is detected as a micropollutant in many water resources. Different treatment methods were lately employed for the removal of CBZ, which are often cheap but inefficient or efficient but expensive. Yet, there are limited available studies on the elimination of this molecule by algae despite their well-known highly adaptive abilities. In this study, the biological treatment of CBZ was carried out using the green microalgae, Ankistrodesmus braunii (A. braunii), which has been reported to be particularly resistant to CBZ toxicity in the literature. The respective effects of the culture medium, the initial inoculum, and CBZ concentrations were studied on CBZ removal. Lastly, the mechanism of CBZ elimination by A. braunii was investigated. The presented data clearly demonstrates that the presence of this molecule did not completely repress A. braunii growth or the ability of these algae to remove CBZ; after 60 days of incubation, the highest percentage of CBZ elimination achieved was 87.6%. Elimination was more successful in Bold’s basal medium than in proteose peptone medium. Finally, the removal mechanism was also investigated to provide a better understanding of the transformation mechanism of this molecule. It was shown that the main removal mechanism was the bioaccumulation of CBZ by A. braunii cells, but the biotransformation of the initial CBZ into metabolites was also observed.