Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are the primary source of pharmaceutical drugs and the metabolic products of their degradation to the environment. Indeed, concerns about harmful environmental impact are growing due to chronic trace concentration exposure caused by WWTPs’ inability to completely degrade pharmaceuticals. In addition, WWTPs have also been reported to be a source of microplastics to the aquatic environments, especially of microfibers released from washing clothes. It is known that there is a great biotechnological potential in bacterial communities from extreme environments, where strains with mechanisms allowing advantageous adaptation to these environments can prevail and proliferate. Moreover, the adaptation of microorganisms to extreme environments, in some cases, depends on their ability to use recalcitrant molecules as a source of carbon, nitrogen, and energy. That ability might depend on catabolic enzymes encoded by genes that may be present in plasmids. It is also recognized that conjugative plasmid transfer can be exploited to enhance biodegradation capabilities in bioreactors. This project aimed to apply bioaugmentation strategies to develop and optimize processes to improve the biodegradation of emerging pollutants in WWTP systems with aerobic granular sludge.​

For more information on project goals and methods refer to this document, and for more information on project results refer to this document.