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Removal of pharmaceuticals from synthetic wastewater in an aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor and determination of the bioreactor microbial diversity

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Five types of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) substances were selected as pollutants in this study. The effects of the removal of these pollutants and the microbial succession process in a granular sludge membrane bioreactor (GMBR) were investigated. Results showed that wastewater containing PPCPs influenced the performance of granular sludge. The removal of the five PPCPs from the GMBR had different effects. The removal rates of prednisolone, norfloxacin and naproxen reached 98.5, 87.8 and 84 %, respectively. The degradation effect in the GMBR system was relatively lower for sulphamethoxazole and ibuprofen, with removal efficiency rates of 79.8 and 63.3 %, respectively. Furthermore, the microbial community structure and diversity variation of the GMBR were analysed via high-throughput sequencing technology. The results indicated the structural and functional succession of the microbial community based on the GMBR process. The results indicate the key features of bacteria with an important role in drug degradation.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Knowledge Innovation Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y025014EA2) and the Key Research Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZZD-EW-09-1) and State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment (Harbin Institute of Technology) (2014TS03) and Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Gansu (1506RJZA102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Municipal & Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Xiao-chun Wang, Ji-min Shen & Zhong-lin Chen

  2. College of Petrochemical Technology, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Xia Zhao & Hao Xu

Authors
  1. Xiao-chun Wang
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  2. Ji-min Shen
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  3. Zhong-lin Chen
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  4. Xia Zhao
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  5. Hao Xu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Zhong-lin Chen or Xia Zhao.

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Funding

This study was funded by Y025014EA2, KZZD-EW-09-1, 2014TS03 and 1506RJZA102.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Wang, Xc., Shen, Jm., Chen, Zl. et al. Removal of pharmaceuticals from synthetic wastewater in an aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor and determination of the bioreactor microbial diversity. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 8213–8223 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7577-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7577-6

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