Investigation of the bioremediation potential to detoxify sludge from wastewater treatment plant, regarding estrogenic and dioxin-like compounds

• Grant number: 14/14123-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2015
• End date: October 17, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Clovis Augusto Ribeiro
• Grantee: Dânia Elisa Christofoletti Mazzeo Morales
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/10198-3 - Bioanalytical tools to investigate endocrine disrupting chemicals in sewage sludge, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Sewage sludge (SS) is a residue derived from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) that has a high pollution potential of soil. However, due to the high content of organic matter and nutrients, the SS is an excellent material for using as an agricultural fertilizer. However, the presence of toxic substances, such as estrogenic and dioxin-like ones, can cause serious impacts to the environment and associated organisms, even when present in low concentrations. From this context, the aim of this project is to seek bioassays for performing an efficient diagnosis of the biological effects of SS contaminants, associating its toxicity with substances present in this waste; develop low cost technologies for the degradation of emerging contaminants allowing the use of SS as agricultural additive; and characterize the microbial population involved in biodegradation. For this, samples of SS from WWTPs of two municipalities that use different operating systems will be submitted to the biostimulation process (for 2, 4 and 6 months) by the addition of agroindustrial (sugar cane bagasse) and domestic (coffee grounds) wastes. The identification of the biodegrader microorganisms will be made by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) and the biological activity of endocrine disruptors and dioxin-like compounds will be evaluated by tests with recombinant yeast (estrogen and Ah receptor) and cultured human cells (E-screen and EROD). The chemical identification of target contaminants will be made by GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CHRISTOFOLETTI MAZZEO, DANIA ELISA; MISOVIC, ANDREA; OLIVEIRA, FLAVIO ANDRADE; LEVY, CARLOS EMILIO; OEHLMANN, JOERG; RODRIGUES DE MARCHI, MARY ROSA. Effects of biostimulation by sugarcane bagasse and coffee grounds on sewage sludges, focusing agricultural use: Microbial characterization, respirometric assessment and toxicity reduction. WASTE MANAGEMENT, v. 118, p. 110-121, DEC 2020. (17/10198-3, 14/14123-0)

MAZZEO, D. E. C.; MARIN-MORALES, M. A.; MARCHI, M. R. R.. Detection of estrogenic and dioxin-like activities in sewage sludge by means of yeast-based assays. Toxicology Letters, v. 259, p. 2-pg., 2016-10-01. (14/14123-0)