Understanding biotransformation mechanisms of OMPs during anoxic biological wastewater treatment

University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain

1. University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Spain
2. RWTH Aachen University (RWTH ), Aachen, Germany

This project will address the following objectives: (i) Cometabolic biotransformation of selected OMPs, aimed to identify the relation between the primary anoxic metabolism in biological wastewater treatment processes and the simultaneous biotransformation (efficiency and rate). Lab-scale reactors will be set-up to study the co-metabolic biotransformation of OMPs under strictly controlled anoxic conditions. A synthetic medium, containing a carbon and a nitrogen source, as well as the macro and micronutrients for denitrifying biomass growth will be used as feed. (ii) The relation between the enzymes involved in denitrifying processes (functional genes) and OMP biotransformation will be assessed. The aim is to elucidate which of the enzymes/enzymatic activities that are active during these processes are responsible for the biotransformation of OMPs. Besides, enzymatic assays with commercial enzymes or cell lysate extracted from biomass of the lab-scale reactors will be considered. (iii) Finally, the removal mechanisms (sorption, biotransformation, mineralisation) of the selected target OMPs and key metabolites will be assessed by using 14C-radiolabelled OMPs in order to determine and quantify their fate under each condition studied.

Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Germany – 6 months

University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland – 4 months