Ibuprofen-degrading consortium

Ibuprofen is a widely used drug of environmental concern as emerging contaminant. High amounts of ibuprofen and its metabolites reach wastewater treatment plants, where their elimination is incomplete. Therefore, this contaminant is mainly introduced from wastewater discharge and sewage sludge used as fertilizer causing environmental pollution. The main aim of this study is to obtain a bacterial consortium from activated slurry to evaluate the efficiency of ibuprofen degradation both in solution and in sewage sludge and to identify the main bacterial groups potentially involved in ibuprofen biodegradation. As a result, the C7 consortium enriched in ibuprofen-degrading bacterial species was obtained. Importantly, this consortium was able to remove high and low concentrations of ibuprofen from aqueous solutions and no accumulation of toxic metabolites occured. Furthermore, ibuprofen in sewage sludge was removed in 16 days, with a 5-fold increase in degradation rate after bioaugmentation with the C7 consortium. Therefore, the application of the C7 consortium before the discharge of wastewater and sewage sludge could prevent environmental contamination by avoiding the entry of ibuprofen into water and soil.

布洛芬（Ibuprofen）是一种应用广泛的药物，同时也是备受关注的新兴环境污染物。高浓度的布洛芬及其代谢产物会进入污水处理厂，且无法被完全去除。因此，这类污染物主要通过废水排放以及用作肥料的污水污泥进入环境，进而造成环境污染。本研究的核心目标是从活性污泥中获取细菌菌群联合体，以评估其在溶液及污水污泥中对布洛芬的降解效能，并鉴定出潜在参与布洛芬生物降解的主要细菌类群。最终，本研究成功获得了一株富集布洛芬降解菌的C7菌群联合体（C7 consortium）。值得关注的是，该菌群联合体可从水溶液中去除高、低浓度的布洛芬，且未出现有毒代谢产物的积累。此外，污水污泥中的布洛芬可在16天内被去除，通过接种C7菌群联合体进行生物强化（bioaugmentation）后，其降解速率提升了5倍。因此，在废水及污水污泥排放前施加C7菌群联合体，可避免布洛芬进入水体与土壤，从而有效防止环境污染。