Anaerobic biodegradation of enrofloxacin in natural lake sediment and bioreactors

• Grant number: 15/24186-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: May 10, 2016
• End date: November 09, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Zaiat
• Grantee: Tanare Cambraia Ribeiro Ferreira
• Supervisor: Stephan Pflugmacher Lima
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Technical University of Berlin (TU), Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/19650-8 - Characterization of transformation products of selected fluoroquinolone antimicrobials subjected to degradation in anaerobic reactors, BP.PD

Abstract

Contamination of wastewater by drugs is of major importance, since they are biologically active substances. Therefore they can interfere in biological systems, such as specific receptors and enzymes. Antimicrobials cause serious concerns about the impacts on the development of bacterial resistance. Drugs have already been detected in different environmental compartments, such as in surface waters, in groundwater and in sediment. Moreover, conventional wastewater treatments have shown low efficiency in the removal of these xenobiotics, while alternative options for that treatment have few studies and their consequences are not clearly evaluated. During the treatment processes the pollutants to be partially degraded generate many transformation products that can be more toxic than the precursor molecules. New treatment technologies must be accompanied by analytical methods to detect and identify the transformation products generated. Thus, the aims of this project are the characterization of anaerobic degradation products of enrofloxacin using fixed-bed biological reactor and natural lake sediments. (AU)