Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F3/00—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage
  • C02F3/34—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage characterised by the microorganisms used
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F3/00—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage
  • C02F3/02—Aerobic processes
  • C02F3/10—Packings; Fillings; Grids
  • C02F3/105—Characterized by the chemical composition
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F3/00—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage
  • C02F3/02—Aerobic processes
  • C02F3/10—Packings; Fillings; Grids
  • C02F3/109—Characterized by the shape
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2101/00—Nature of the contaminant
  • C02F2101/10—Inorganic compounds
  • C02F2101/16—Nitrogen compounds, e.g. ammonia
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2101/00—Nature of the contaminant
  • C02F2101/30—Organic compounds
  • C02F2101/306—Pesticides
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2101/00—Nature of the contaminant
  • C02F2101/30—Organic compounds
  • C02F2101/308—Dyes; Colorants; Fluorescent agents
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2101/00—Nature of the contaminant
  • C02F2101/30—Organic compounds
  • C02F2101/32—Hydrocarbons, e.g. oil
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2103/00—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated
  • C02F2103/34—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated from industrial activities not provided for in groups C02F2103/12 - C02F2103/32
  • C02F2103/343—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated from industrial activities not provided for in groups C02F2103/12 - C02F2103/32 from the pharmaceutical industry, e.g. containing antibiotics
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F3/00—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage
  • C02F3/02—Aerobic processes
  • C02F3/08—Aerobic processes using moving contact bodies
  • C02F3/085—Fluidized beds
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02W—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT
  • Y02W10/00—Technologies for wastewater treatment
  • Y02W10/10—Biological treatment of water, waste water, or sewage

Definitions

• MBBR moving bed biofilm reactors
• MBBC small cylindrical carriers
• cylinder- shaped carriers are specifically designed to provide a large surface area for the growth of attached microbial biofilm.
• a variable fraction of the total reactor volume is filled with these MBBC which are then kept in continuous movement by aeration or mechanical stirring of the fluid.
• MBBR MB-Betrachloro-3,4-butadiene styrene-maleic anhydride
• MBBC consist of small cylinders (typically having a 10-60 mm diameter and a 3-50 mm height) generally having longitudinal fins on their external surface.
• a series of flat surfaces or rods protruding from the internal surface of the cylinder toward the central axis thereof are usually present, to increase the surface available for the growth of the microbial biofilm.
• Further cylindrical surfaces, concentric to each other and to the most external cylindrical surface can be present in the internal cavity of the cylinder. When more than one cylindrical surfaces are present, they are linked to each other through flat surfaces or rods.
• Such MBBC are known as "Kaldnes-like cylinders" or "Kaldnes-like carriers".
• the MBBC actually available in the market or however described in the scientific literature, including the Kaldnes-like carriers, are made of petroleum-based plastic (i.e. high-density polyethylene and other polymers).
• they are generally made of high-density polyethylene, which has a density slightly less than water, thus facilitating the movements of the carriers inside the fluid mass.
• the fact that the MBBC are made of plastic is associated to some unpleasant drawbacks.
• the manufacture of plastic MBBC depends on petroleum-based raw materials, i.e. a nonrenewable source.
• these products are not easily manageable, first of all for the very fact that they are plastic-based, non biodegradable products, but also because after their use they can be contaminated.
• Another drawback, which arises as a consequence of those mentioned above, is that the disposal of these carriers is expected to be costly and technically not easily feasible, although no indications concerning this aspects have been reported in the technical and scientific literature.
• Kaldnes-like cylinder In the context of the present invention, the expressions "Kaldnes-like cylinder”, “Kaldnes-like carrier”, “carrier having/with a Kaldnes-like shape/structure” “carrier having/with the shape/structure of Kaldnes-like carrier” are meant to refer to a carrier having exclusively the shape of a Kaldnes-like carrier as described above which identifies in general a carrier having a cylindrical shape wherein one or more flat surfaces or rods are present, protruding internally, externally, or both internally and externally with respect to the cylindrical surface.
• Kaldnes-like carriers are described in detail for example in WO 91/11396 (also published as EP 0575314) and WO 95/25072 (also published as EP 0750591) herein inclosed by reference.
• the main purpose of the present invention is to provide an alternative moving bed biofilm carrier (MBBC) with a Kaldnes-like shape which is not made of traditional plastic of petroleum origin.
• MBBC moving bed biofilm carrier
• an aim of this invention is to provide a MBBC with a Kaldnes-like shape which can be disposed of, after the end of its life-cycle, in an easy manner and without incurring in high costs.
• Another aim of the invention is to provide a MBBC with a Kaldnes-like shape which, at the end of its life-cycle, is not contaminated by pollutants agents.
• a further purpose of the present invention is to provide a carrier with a Kaldnes-like shape which can be employed in the processes of wastewater treatment and bioremediation of contaminated waters.
• the present invention aims at providing a carrier with a Kaldnes-like shape which does not undergo chemical degradation in the presence of chemical pollutants in the contaminated waters to be treated.
• a moving bed biofilm carrier having the shape of a Kaldnes-like carrier, characterized in that it is inoculated with one or more microbial strain(s) and is manufactured from bioplastic.
• bioplastic is meant to indicate a plastic derived from renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable fats and oils or starch, rather than from petroleum and which is biodegradable, i.e. degrades in natural environments.
• Figure 1 represents an exemplary structure of a Kaldnes-like moving bed biofilm carrier.
• Figure 2 shows the effect of non inoculated and inoculated bioplastic- based MBBC according to the invention on 14 C0 2 evolution from wastewater samples spiked with bisphenol A (BPA). Bars represent standard deviations of the means.
• Figure 3 shows the effect of non inoculated and inoculated bioplastic- based MBBC according to the invention on 14 C0 2 evolution from wastewater samples spiked with oseltamivir carboxylate (OC). Bars represent standard deviations of the means.
• Figure 4 shows the effect of non inoculated and inoculated bioplastic- based MBBC according to the invention on 14 C0 2 evolution from wastewater samples spiked with atrazine (ATZ). Bars represent standard deviations of the means.
• the present invention relates to a moving bed biofilm carrier (MBBC), having the shape of a Kaldnes-like carrier, characterized in that it is inoculated with one or more microbial strain(s) and is manufactured from bioplastic.
• MBBC moving bed biofilm carrier
• the bioplastic-based MBBC of the invention can be used in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR) for bioremediation processes of wastewater or contaminated water.
• MBBR moving bed biofilm reactors
• the bioplastic-based carriers of the invention having the shape of a Kaldnes-like carriers are cylinders having an internal diameter of 2 cm, a thickness of 0.25 cm and an external diameter of 2.25 cm.
• the external surface can preferably be provided by prism-shaped fins to increase the surface of the carrier wherein the microbial biofilm adheres.
• the prism-shaped fins placed on the external surface of the cylinder can have a base of 0.25 cm and a height of 0.3 cm.
• a certain number of rods can be present in the internal cavity of the cylinder; preferably, four radially arranged rods can be present. In a further preferred embodiment, these rods can be hollow. In addition, also these rods can be provided with prism-shaped fins, to further increase the surface available for microbial growth in the internal cavity of the cylinder, which is the most suitable for microbial growth, being sheltered from the external environment. Preferably, the prism-shaped fins placed on the rods in the internal cavity of the cylinder can have a base of 0.05 cm and a height of 0.055 cm. All the linear dimensions recited above can be varied up to 20% of the above values (either by increasing or by decreasing them), maintaining the proportion of the above lengths to one another. Due to the above recited dimensions, the resulting volume of the cylinders amounts to 2.34 cm 3 ( ⁇ 20%).
• the bioplastic-based carriers of the invention are made of the biodegradable plastic polylactide (PL A) and/or one or more starch-based bioplastic(s).
• PL A biodegradable plastic polylactide
• starch-based bioplastic(s) As an example, the starch-derived bioplastic Mater-Bi® (manufactured by Novamont S.p.A, No vara, Italy) can be used.
• the carriers are entirely made of polylactide; in another embodiment, the carriers are entirely made of one or more starch-based bioplastic(s).
• the cylindrical body of the carrier is made of polylactide and the internal rods are made of one or more starch- based bioplastic(s).
• the cylindrical body of the carrier is made of one or more starch-based bioplastic(s) and the internal rods are made of polylactide.
• the bioplastic-based carriers can further be made, either totally or partially, of other biodegradable polymers, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3- hydroxy valerate (PHBV).
• the density of the material which they are made of can vary between 0.03 and 0.3 g/cm 3 .
• the bioplastic-based carriers of the invention can be manufactured by common extrusion processes. As stated above, the carriers of the invention are inoculated with one or more selected microbial strain(s). The microbial inoculum is put into and/or onto the rods protruding in the internal cavity of the cylinders. After inoculation, the cylinders are sealed on both sides with plugs made of one or more starch-based bioplastic(s) . Sealing the sides of the cylinders serves the purpose of protecting the inoculated microorganisms to allow a gradual adaptation of the microorganisms themselves to the wastewater or contaminated water and an initial increase of the biomass.
• the density of the one or more bioplastic(s) which the plugs are made of affects the time needed for such plugs to disintegrate, thus allowing the inoculated microorganisms to contact the wastewater or contaminated water.
• plugs having low density e.g. 0.03 g/cm 3
• a spongy consistency are desired, which degrade in about three days, thus rapidly contacting the microorganisms to the wastewater or contaminated water.
• the final extrusion step of the manufacturing process thereof is performed at high speed.
• plugs having a higher density can be advantageously used (e.g. 0.3 g/cm 3 , which require up to six days for their degradation to occur).
• the main role of the carriers in a MBB is to provide a support for the growth of microorganism colonies on their surface, resulting in the formation of a stable and sheltered biofilm.
• Kaldnes-like shape and manufactured with biodegradable materials allow to obtain a particularly improved effect in terms of working efficacy of these carriers.
• the Kaldnes-like shape offers an optimal solution in terms of the ratio between volume and surface available for the growth of the microorganisms on the carrier itself, thus maximizing the amount of the biomass and optimizing the growth conditions of the microorganisms.
• the carriers of the invention also represent a carbon source, thus providing a nutritional substrate for the growing microorganisms, contrary to the traditional, oil-derived plastic carriers, which represent a mere physical support for the growth of microorganisms.
• the growth of the biomass on the bioplastic-based carriers of the invention is greatest on the rods protruding towards the internal cavity of the cylinders and on the internal surface(s) of the cylinders.
• the rods and the internal surface(s) of the cylinders are in fact less exposed to stress conditions such as abrasion due to the water flux or to collisions with other carriers and predation by microorganisms like protozoa or metazoa which can be present in the wastewater or contaminated water.
• stress conditions mentioned above however, the microbial biofilm may undergo a partial detachment from the surface of the carriers, which results in the release of portions of the biofilm which remain suspended into the wastewater or contaminated water inside the reactor.
• the present invention relates to the use of the bioplastic-based moving bed biofilm carriers of the invention for the bioremediation (i.e. the removal of pollutants performed by microorganisms) of wastewater or contaminated water.
• the wastewater can be selected from the group consisting of biological, chemical and biological/chemical wastewater.
• such wastewater can be wastewater from the urban, industrial and agricultural environments.
• the bioplastic-based MBBC of the invention can be used for the abatement of BOD/COD from wastewater.
• the bioplastic-based MBBC of the invention can be used for the reduction of carbon and/or nitrogen and/or phosphorous content from wastewater.
• the bioplastic-based MBBC of the invention are also used for the bioremediation of waters contaminated by pollutant agents.
• pollutant agents can be selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbons and oil-derivatives.
• pollutant agents can be synthetic compounds.
• synthetic compounds are selected from the group consisting of xenobiotics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, phytosanitary compounds, herbicides and dyes.
• Bioremediation is based on a natural process, which exploits the ability of some microorganisms to degrade chemical substances representing environmental contaminants or pollutants. Contaminants or pollutants of organic origin can be either completely degraded by microorganisms to carbon anhydride and water (mineralization) or converted into compounds with a lower toxicity. Bioremediation is usually employed to decontaminate contaminated environments such as soil, superficial water, groundwater and the treatment equipments themselves.
• microorganisms used in bioremediation are able to exploit chemical compounds representing a pollutant or a contaminant as a source of energy for their growth.
• Many microorganisms are known for possessing a catabolic activity towards substances considered toxic or environmental contaminants.
• Bisphenol A is widely used in the synthesis of plastics and plastic additives. Concerns have been raised about the presence of Bisphenol A in consumer products, as it interferes with the endocrine system exerting weak but detectable hormone-like properties, which become particularly dangerous when fetuses, infants and young children are exposed to this product. Bisphenol A is also involved in a decreased fertility of adult men. Many bacterial species have been isolated and characterized as capable of degrading Bisphenol A. Some of these bacteria belong to the genuses Bacillus spp. and Pseudomonas spp.; another example of Bisphenol A degrading microorganism is Sphingomonas bisphenolicum. In addition, also ammonia-oxidating bacteria, such as Nitrosomonas Europaea have the capacity to degrade Bisphenol A, as well as the active pharmaceutical ingredient ibuprofen.
• 17P-estradiol is also a toxic compound which interferes with the endocrine system and which is not degraded in conventional water treatment systems.
• Bacterial species belonging to the genuses Aminobacter spp., Brevumdimonas spp., Escherichia spp., Flavobacterium spp., Microbacterium spp., Nocardioides spp., Rhodococcus spp. and Sphingomonas spp. have been isolated and characterized as capable of degrading 17P-estradiol.
• a species of the Arthrobacter genus has been used to degrade the herbicide atrazine in a contaminated soil. This Arthrobacter species is likely to be effectively used in other contaminated areas, for example in the equipment for wastewater treatment.
• some bacterial species such as Pseudomonas spp. and Rhodococcus spp. are known to be capable of degrading herbicides of the s-triazine family.
• Bioremediation is largely applied to environmental areas contaminated by hydrocarbons and oil-derivatives in general through hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria.
• gamma-Proteobacteria and Cytophaga-Flavobacteria are capable of degrading phenol and derivatives thereof.
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene and phenanthrene are environmental contaminants highly dangerous for the human health because of their potential mutagen activity.
• Bacterial species such as Alcaligenes denitrificans, Mycobacterium spp., Pseudomonas putida and Streptomyces spp. have proved capable of degrading naphthalene.
• Phenanthrene can instead be metabolized by bacterial species such as Aeromonas spp., Alcaligenes faecalis, Arthrobacter polychromogenes and Micrococcus spp.
• Phanerochaete chrysosporium is one of the most well-studied degrading fungi, in view of its degrading properties against a wide number of chemical contaminants, in particular of antibiotics.
• the one or more microorganism(s) to be inoculated on the bioplastic-based moving bed biofilm carrier according to the invention is selected among the species of microorganisms known for their decontaminating activity.
• the selection of the one or more microorganism species to be inoculated in the carrier is based on the kind of contaminant(s) present in the wastewaters or contaminated waters to be treated.
• the one or more microorganism(s) can be bacteria and/or fungi.
• the one or more microorganism(s) are ammonia-oxidating bacteria.
• the one or more microorganism(s) are hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. More preferably, the one or more microorganism(s) are poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. Naphthalene-degrading bacteria and phenanthrene-degrading bacteria are even more preferred.
• the microorganism can preferably be Phanerochaete chrysosporium .
• the microorganism(s) can preferably be selected from the group consisting of Aeromonas spp., Agrobacterium spp., Alcaligenes spp., Aminobacter spp., Arthrobacter spp., Bacillus spp., Brevumdimonas spp., Cytophaga-Flavobacteria spp., Escherichia spp., Flavobacterium spp., Mycobacterium spp., Microbacterium spp., Micrococcus spp., Nocardioides spp., Pseudomonas spp., gamma-Proteobacteria spp., Rhodococcus spp., Sphingomonas spp., Streptomyces spp.
• microorganism(s) can be Sphingomonas bisphenolicum .
• microorganism(s) can be Nitrosomonas Europaea.
• microorganism(s) can be Pseudomonas putida.
• microorganism(s) can be Arthrobacter polychromogenes .
• microorganism(s) can be Alcaligenes denitrificans .
• microorganism(s) can be Alcaligenes faecalis.
• the Agrobacterium sp. BPA strain can also be (one of) the preferred microorganism(s) inoculated on the carriers of the present invention.
• the Flavobacterium sp. OC strain can also be (one of) the preferred microorganism(s) inoculated on the carriers of the present invention.
• the Pseudomonas sp. ADP strain can also be (one of) the preferred microorganism(s) inoculated on the carriers of the present invention.
• the one or more microbial strain(s) with which the bioplastic-based MBBC are inoculated are chosen on the basis of the specific contaminant(s), xenobiotic(s) and/or compound(s) contained in the wastewater or contaminated water.
• Moving bed biofilm carriers manufactured with IngeoTM polylactide (PLA) biopolymer (Nature Works LLC, Minnetonka, MN, USA) and consisting of cylinders with internal diameter and high of 2 cm were prepared for this study.
• PPA polylactide
• Rods were produced with the starch- derived bioplastic Mater-Bi® (Novamont S.p.A, Novara, Italy). Rods were cut to a length of 2.2 cm and then inserted in the cylinder which was perforated for keeping the sticks in a fixed position.
• Prepared MBBC ( Figure 1) were then autoclaved at 120 °C for 15 min.
• inoculated MBBC a disk of freeze-dried cells was inserted in the middle of the stick. The edges of this inoculated sticks were capped with autoclaved plugs. Plugs were obtained from spongy Mater- Bi®. All the operations were conducted under sterile conditions.
• EXAMPLE 2 Microbial inoculation of bioplastic carriers
• Bioplastic carriers were inoculated with the following bioremediation bacteria strains: Agrobacterium sp. BPA (capable to degrade bisphenol A, i.e. BPA), Flavobacterium sp. OC (capable to degrade oseltamivir carboxylate, i.e. OC), and Pseudomonas sp. ADP (capable to degrade atrazine, i.e. ATZ).
• the two latter strains were isolated in other studies (Mandelbaum et al., 1993; Accinelli et al., 2010) and are capable to mineralize OC and ATZ, respectively.
• the former strain was isolated from soil using a conventional enrichment procedure described in Accinelli et al., 2010 and selected for its capability to mineralize BPA.
• LB Luria-Bertani
• cells of the selected bacterial strains were harvested by centrifugation at 10,000 g for 10 min and washed twice with sterile phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Cells were freeze-dried for 20 h at -50°C and then size of the inoculum (number of viable cells per mass of freeze-dried culture) was determined by spread- plate on LB agar. A mass of inocula corresponding to a total of approximately 10 12 colony forming units was then introduced into autoclaved sticks.
• PBS sterile phosphate buffer saline
• BPA bisphenol A
• EXAMPLE 4 Removal of the antiviral drug oseltamivir from wastewater using inoculated and bioplastic-based moving bed biofilm carrier
• Inoculated bioplastic-based MBBC were also evaluated for their efficiency to remove the pesticide atrazine (ATZ) from wastewater.
• ATZ pesticide atrazine
• a mixture of unlabeled (chemical purity > 99%; Sigma-Aldrich Chemie GmbH, Steinheim, Germany) and ring-14C(U) radiolabeled ATZ (1.72 MBq*mg _1 ; radiopurity 99%; American Radiolabeled Chemicals Inc., St. Louis, MO) was added to wastewater samples to provide a final concentration of 10 ⁇ g*mL "1 . Evolution of 14 C0 2 was monitored as described above. Within the 10-day period, ATZ mineralization accounted for approximately 3.5% of the initial added radioactivity (Figure 4).
• inoculated MBBC showed higher efficiency with ATZ than with the other two combination of xenobiotics/bioremediation strains.
• cumulative 14 C0 2 evolution from samples containing non inoculated carriers accounted for 6.3% of the total initial radioactivity.
• Pseudomonas sp. ADP cumulative 14 C0 2 evolution accounted for 8.7% of the initial added radioactivity.
• MBBC were removed from cylinders and washed twice in sterile phosphate buffer. After drying at 35°C, MBBC were transferred to 50-mL centrifuge tubes containing 30 mL of PBS and of glass beads. Tubes were vortexed for 5 min and then horizontally shaken at 250 rpm for 2 hours. Tubes were then centrifuged at 10,000 x g for 5 min. The procedure was repeated replacing the shacking step with sonication of the samples at 30 kHz for 10 min. Obtained pellets were bulked together, dried at 40 °C overnight and then used for quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis.
• qPCR quantitative PCR
• Eub338 ACT CCT ACG GGA GGC AGC AG (SEQ. ID. No: 1); Eub518: ATT ACC GCG GCT GCT GG (SEQ. ID. No: 2).
• Each 25 ⁇ qPCR reaction contained 2 ⁇ of DNA, 12.5 ⁇ of 2* TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosy stems, CA), and 0.2 ⁇ of each primer.
• Thermocy cling conditions were as follows: 2 min at 50°C, 10 min at 95°C, cycles of 15 s at 95°C and 1 min at 60°C. Reactions were performed using an ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detection System (Applied Biosystems). Gene copies were estimated by comparison of cycle threshold values obtained from known amounts of DNA. The same procedure was used for enumerating the copy numbers of atzC gene from inoculated MBBC of the ATZ experiment.
• the sequences of primers targeting the atzC gene were the following:
• AtzCqF TCG TAG CCT TTG CAC AGA GTG GAT T (SEQ. ID.
• AtzCqR TTT TCC CGC GTA GCA GGA TCA AC (SEQ. ID. No:
• results of the qPCR analysis targeting a fragment of the conservative 16S rRNA bacterial gene are summarized in Table 1 below.
• quantification of the PCR-amplified 16SrRNA products is here assumed to give an estimation of the size of the bacterial community.
• the average copy number of the amplified 16S rRNA fragments recovered from control (no MBBC) wastewater samples was of loglO copies per ng of DNA, with no significant differences among the three chemicals. Detrimental effects of these chemicals on wastewater bacteria are consequently excluded.
• Table 1 Total bacterial DNA (nanograms) from attached biofilm of bioplastic-based moving biofilm bed carriers (MBBC) recovered from wastewater samples spiked with bisphenol A (BPA), oseltamivir carboxylate (OC) or atrazine (ATZ) and incubated for 10 days. The total amount of DNA fragments corresponding to the atzC gene are reported in parenthesis. Number is means of three replicates ⁇ STD.
• BPA bisphenol A
• OC oseltamivir carboxylate
• ATZ atrazine
• the bioplastic- based carriers with Kaldnes-like shape provided by the present invention are capable of solving the established purposes in an effective manner.
• the carriers according to the invention being made of bioplastic, do not exploit a non-renewable source and, after the end of their life-cycle can be disposed of in an easier and more economical manner with respect to disposal of carriers made of oil-derived plastic.
• the carriers of the invention are not contaminated by pollutants agents as the one or more microorganism(s) inoculated thereon are capable of degrading the pollutant substances to be removed.
• the carriers of the invention can be employed in the bioremediation of wastewater and contaminated water, effectively improving the degradation of the pollutants performed by the microorganism(s) inoculated thereon.
• the bioplastic-based carriers of the invention in fact have been shown to provide a suitable and sheltered support wherein the microbial biomass can grow on a small volume thus improving the efficacy of the bioremediation of wastewaster or contaminated water.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Microbiology (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Water Supply & Treatment (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Hydrology & Water Resources (AREA)
• Biodiversity & Conservation Biology (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Purification Treatments By Anaerobic Or Anaerobic And Aerobic Bacteria Or Animals (AREA)
• Micro-Organisms Or Cultivation Processes Thereof (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=45937366

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (1)

Cited By (19)

Citations (8)

• 2012
  • 2012-04-04 WO PCT/EP2012/056218 patent/WO2013149662A1/fr not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (10)

Similar Documents

Legal Events