Pharmaceuticals removal and microbial community assessment in a continuous fungal treatment of non-sterile real hospital wastewater after a coagulation-flocculation pretreatment

Hospital wastewaters are a main source of pharmaceutical active compounds, which are usually highly recalcitrant and can accumulate in surface and groundwater bodies. Fungal treatments can remove these contaminants prior to discharge, but real wastewater poses a problem to fungal survival due to bac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 2017-06, Vol.116, p.65-75
Main Authors: Mir-Tutusaus, J.A., Parladé, E., Llorca, M., Villagrasa, M., Barceló, D., Rodriguez-Mozaz, S., Martinez-Alonso, M., Gaju, N., Caminal, G., Sarrà, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioreactors - microbiology
Continuous treatment
Flocculation
Fungal bioreactor
Fungi
Hospital wastewater
Hospitals
Non-sterile
Pharmaceutical active compounds
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Pretreatment
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Waste Water
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Summary:Hospital wastewaters are a main source of pharmaceutical active compounds, which are usually highly recalcitrant and can accumulate in surface and groundwater bodies. Fungal treatments can remove these contaminants prior to discharge, but real wastewater poses a problem to fungal survival due to bacterial competition. This study successfully treated real non-spiked, non-sterile wastewater in a continuous fungal fluidized bed bioreactor coupled to a coagulation-flocculation pretreatment for 56 days. A control bioreactor without the fungus was also operated and the results were compared. A denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and sequencing approach was used to study the microbial community arisen in both reactors and as a result some bacterial degraders are proposed. The fungal operation successfully removed analgesics and anti-inflammatories, and even the most recalcitrant pharmaceutical families such as antibiotics and psychiatric drugs. [Display omitted] •A fungal reactor treating continuously real HWW was operated for 56 days.•Fungal treatment removed most of the pharmaceutical active compounds.•A DGGE and sequencing approach shed light onto the microbial community.•Some interspecies interactions in the fungal PhACs removal have been proposed.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2017.03.005