Phytoremediation for improving the quality of effluents from a conventional tannery wastewater treatment plant

  • S. Di Gregorio
  • L. Giorgetti
  • M. Ruffini Castiglione
  • L. Mariotti
  • R. Lorenzi
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

In the present study, the quality of effluents from a conventional wastewater treatment plant in Italy has been analyzed. Residual level of contamination by 4-n-nonylphenol, mono- and di-ethoxylated nonylphenols has been recorded in the effluents that resulted to be also phytotoxic and genotoxic. The possibility of exploiting phytoremediation as a sustainable tertiary treatment for the depletion of the priority pollutants and for the reduction in the residual toxicity has been verified at mesocosm scale. The phyto-based treatment has been performed by the exploitation of Phragmites australis by either a bacterial-assisted and not assisted approach. In relation to the bacterial-assisted approach, two new bacterial strains, capable of using the nonylphenols as a sole carbon source, have been isolated. One was identified as a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) belonging to the Stenotrophomonas species, and the second one was classified as a Sphingobium species strain. Both strains were independently bioaugmented in the P. australis rhizosphere. In relation to the not assisted approach, the phyto-based process determined 87, 70 and 87 % for 4-n-nonylphenol, mono-ethoxylated nonylphenols and di-ethoxylated nonylphenols, respectively. The toxicological assessment of the process evidenced the complete depletion of either the phytotoxicity or the genotoxicity of the treated effluents. With reference to the bacterial-assisted approach, the PGPR Stenotrophomonas species strain resulted to be capable of significantly increasing the efficiency of the phyto-based process in nonylphenol depletion up to 88 % for the 4-n-nonylphenol, 84 % for the mono-ethoxylated nonylphenol and 71 % for the di-ethoxylated nonylphenol.

Keywords

Bacterial-assisted phytoremediation Genotoxicity Nonylphenols Phytotoxicity Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria Stenotrophomonas sp. 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the EU Project ClearH2O-Multifunctional approach to municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and water reuse scenarios—European Research Area–Small Medium Enterprise (ERA-SME) 2 Edition, 6th call, 2009; Linea 1.5.b POR CReO (Programma Operativo Regionale—obiettivo “Competitività Regionale e Occupazione”) Tuscany Region for Research and Development project for SME.

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Copyright information

© Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • S. Di Gregorio
    • 1
  • L. Giorgetti
    • 2
  • M. Ruffini Castiglione
    • 1
  • L. Mariotti
    • 1
  • R. Lorenzi
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of BiologyUniversity of PisaPisaItaly
  2. 2.National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Biology and Agricultural Biotechnology (IBBA)Research Unit of PisaPisaItaly

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