Influence of ibuprofen and its biotransformation products on different biological sludge systems and ecosystem

作者：Yanyan Jia, Samir Kumar Khanal, Linwan Yin, Lianpeng Sun, Hui Xia Lu · 发表于：Environment International · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1016/j.envint.2020.106265 · 被引用次数：61 · 研究领域：Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts、Analytical chemistry methods development、Water Treatment and Disinfection

Ibuprofen (IBU) is one of the frequently detected non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and aquatic environment. However, little is known about the effect of IBU and its biotransformation products (TPs) on different biological sludge systems and aquatic environment. The effects and toxicity of IBU and TPs on three biological sludge systems (i.e., activated sludge (AS), sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB)-enriched sludge and anaerobic methanogenic (AnM) sludge systems) and aquatic environment were comprehensively evaluated through a long-term operation of three bioreactors and a series of batch experiments. Both of the SRB-enriched sludge and AnM sludge systems were not affected under a long-term exposure to IBU, based on removing organic carbon and sulfur and producing methane. This could be attributed to the high tolerance of functional microbes in the SRB-enriched sludge (e.g., genus Desulfobacter) and AnM sludge systems (e.g., genus Candidatus Methanomethylicus) for IBU. In contrast, IBU had some apparently inhibitory effects on the AS system, such as reduced organic removal efficiency and poor sludge settling. The analysis on microbial community revealed that IBU significantly inhibited the genera involved in organic degradation (e.g., genus Candidatus Competibacter) and also stimulated those genera (e.g., genus Brachymonas) to secret excess extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which thus caused sludge bulking in the AS sys...