Re-inoculation strategies enhance the degradation of emerging pollutants in fungal bioaugmentation of sewage sludge.

Carlos E Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Daniel Lucas, Enrique Barón, Pablo Gago-Ferrero, Daniel Molins-Delgado, Sara Rodríguez-Mozaz, Ethel Eljarrat, M Silvia Díaz-Cruz, Damià Barceló, Glòria Caminal, Teresa Vicent

Index: Bioresour. Technol. 168 , 180-9, (2014)

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Abstract

The use of Trametes versicolor has been partially successful in the removal of some pharmaceuticals from sewage sludge in laboratory-scale biopile systems. The application of two strategies for the re-inoculation of biomass was assessed during the fungal bioaugmentation of non-sterile sludge (42-d treatment) as an approach to improve the elimination of pharmaceuticals and other groups of emerging pollutants. Globally, the re-inoculation of biopiles with blended mycelium exerted a major effect on the removal of pharmaceuticals (86%), brominated-flame-retardants (81%) and UV filters (80%) with respect to the re-inoculation with additional lignocellulosic substrate colonized by the fungus (69-67-22%). The performance was better than that of the analogous non-re-inoculated systems that were assayed previously for the removal of pharmaceuticals. The results demonstrate the ability of T. versicolor to remove a wide spectrum of emerging micropollutants under non-sterile conditions, while re-inoculation appears to be a useful step to improve the fungal treatment of sludge. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.