Anchoring fungi to carriers boosts drug removal from wastewater
Baldessarelli R, Bertrand E, Seyssiecq I, Barca C
Phytoremediation
The runoff and treated water flowing near your local stream or community garden's irrigation source may still carry trace pharmaceuticals, and this research points toward a cheaper, biology-based way to strip them out before they reach soil and waterways.
Certain fungi can break down pollutants like painkillers and anti-seizure drugs that slip through regular wastewater treatment. Scientists compared two setups: fungi grown into loose clumps versus fungi glued onto a solid carrier material inside a treatment tank. Anchoring the fungi to a carrier and running the system continuously removed far more pollutant, up to 99% for some drugs, likely because the fungi stayed put and stayed active longer instead of washing away.
Key Findings
Immobilized fungal systems removed a median of 99% of NSAIDs (like ibuprofen) versus 85.5% for pellet-based systems
For antiepileptic drugs, immobilized systems reached 74% removal median compared to 50% in pellet-based systems
Analysis drew on 71 studies; wastewater sterility and carrier type most affected performance in continuous immobilized setups, while transformation product toxicity remains largely unstudied
chevron_right Technical Summary
Fungal filters that trap fungus in pellets or attach it to solid carriers do a much better job cleaning drugs like ibuprofen and anti-seizure medication out of wastewater than free-floating fungal pellets alone, especially when run continuously.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Fungal bioreactors for treatment of emerging organic pollutants: Pellet-based and immobilized configurations.
This review evaluates fungal bioreactors for the removal of emerging organic pollutants, focusing on pellet-based and immobilized configurations under different operating conditions. A dataset of 7...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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