Page 163 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

144 Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment

Canada, Europe, and the United States (Batt et al., 2007). To date, the successful use of
different fungal species has been reported for the efficient removal of low concentrations
of different antibiotics, including Cinoxacin (Cruz-Morató et al., 2012), Ciprofloxacin
(Parshikov et al., 2001b), Enrofloxacin (Martens et al., 1996), Erythromycin (Accinelli
et al., 2010), Norfloxacin (Parshikov et al., 2001b), Flumequine (Čvančarova ́ et al.,
2013), Sarafloxacin (Parshikov et al., 2001a), Sulfamethazine (García-Galán et al.,
2011), Sulfathiazole (Rodríguez-Rodríguez et al., 2012b), Sulfapyridine (Rodríguez-
Rodríguez et al., 2012b), and Sulfamethoxazole (Rodarte-Morales et al., 2011).
Lipid regulators are a class of chemicals that are prescribed to control elevated
levels of different forms of lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia. Lipid regulators
include statins, which lower cholesterol, and fibrates which regulate fatty acids
and triglycerides (Pahan, 2006). The removal efficiency of these compounds and
their main derivative, clofibric acid, is known to be ~28% in conventional WWTPs
(Marco-Urrea et al., 2010c). A large amount of lipid regulators is consumed annu-
ally, and the failure of current WWTPs to efficiently remove them makes lipid regu-
lators a potential hazard to the environment. Several fungal species have been tested
for the removal of this class of pharmaceuticals. Successful removal (near and up to
100%) has been reported for clofibric acid (Marco-Urrea et al., 2010c), and partial
removal of 70% was reported for Gemfibrozil (Tran et al., 2010).
β-blockers or β-adrenergic blocking agents are a group of pharmaceuticals
used for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and high blood pressure (hyperten-
sion). They act by blocking the effects of the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline).
Conventional WWTPs are not capable of removing these compounds, and conse-
quently, β-blockers are found ubiquitously in the effluent of WWTPs with concentra-
tions in the range of nanograms to milligrams per liter. Several fungal species have
demonstrated the capability to eliminate β-blocker compounds, including atenolol
and propranolol (Marco-Urrea et al., 2010c).
Estrogens are a class of pharmaceuticals that influence the endocrine hormonal
system and are prescribed in the treatment of certain hormone-sensitive cancers, such
as prostate cancer and breast cancer (Ternes et al., 1999). Conventional WWTPs are
not capable of efficiently eliminating these compounds; therefore, many steroids are
eventually discharged into the environment via WWTP effluents or as accumulated
compounds in sewage sludge, which is used for land improvement (Koh et al., 2008).
The data regarding the degradation of these compounds by fungi is scarce in the
literature. However, the successful removal of 17β-estradiol (Auriol et al., 2008) and
17α-ethinylestradiol compounds (Blánquez and Guieysse, 2008) due to degradation
by several fungal species has been reported.

8.3 USE OF FUNGI FOR TREATMENT OF
PHARMACEUTICALS IN THE EFFLUENT

8.3.1 inTroDucTion To fungi
The eukaryotic and largely aerobic nature of fungi, combined (except for yeasts) with
their filamentous growth habit, distinguishes them in many ways as different from
bacteria (Glazer and Nikaido, 1995; Morton, 2005; Harms et al., 2011). Whereas