The impact of polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) and glycogen-accumulating organism (GAO) populations as well as of the chemical profile on the performance of Unit-3 (open elutriation tanks) and Unit-5 (covered elutriation tank) of the City of Johannesburg Northern Wastewater Treatment Works was determined. Physicochemical parameters of wastewater samples were measured using standard methods. Bacterial diversity was determined using 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing of the variable region V1-3. Results showed soluble COD concentrations from settled sewage for Unit-3 at 192.8 mg COD/L and for Unit-5 at 214.6 mg COD/L, which increased to 301.8 mg COD/L and 411.6 mg COD/L in the overflow from elutriation tanks and decreased to 170.9 mg COD/L and 256.3 mg COD/L at the division boxes, respectively. Both long-chain volatile fatty acids (heptanoic acid, isobutyric acid, 3-methylbutanoic acid, pentanoic acid, 4-methylpentanoic acid, methylheptanoic acid) and short-chain volatile fatty acids (acetic acid, propionic acid, isobutyric acid) were present within concentration ranges of 17.19 mg/L to 54.98 mg/L and 13.64 mg/L to 87.6 mg/L for Unit 3 and 38.61 mg/L to58.85 mg/L and 21.63 mg/L to 92.39 mg/L for Unit 5, respectively. In the secondary settling tanks, the phosphate-removal efficiency in Unit-5 appeared to be slightly higher (0.08 mg P/L) compared to that of Unit-3 (0.11 mg P/L). The average DO concentrations (2.1 mg/L and 2.2 mg/L) as well as the pH values (pH 7 to pH 7.5) were found to be slightly higher in Unit-5 in the aerobic zones. The high presence of PAOs in the bioreactors (Unit-5: Dechloromonas (14.96%), Acinetobacter (6.3%), Zoogloea (4.72%) in the anaerobic zone and Dechloromonas (22.37 %) in the aerobic zone; Unit-3: Dechloromonas (37.25%) in the anaerobic zone and Dechloromonas (23.97%) in the aerobic zone) confirmed the phosphate-removal efficiencies of both units. Negligible GAOs were found in the aerobic zones (Defluviicoccus spp.: 0.33% for Unit-5 and 0.68% for Unit-3) and in the anaerobic zones (Defluviicoccus: 9.8% for Unit-3). The high microbial diversity and a negligible percentage of GAOs in Unit-5 could contribute to its high phosphate-removal efficiency, although results did not indicate statistically significant differences between the unit with a covered elutriation tank (Unit-5) and that with open elutriation tanks (Unit-3).

Pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs) are widely prevalent environmental contaminants, with recalcitrant behaviour to conventional biodegradation processes and harmful effects to the ecosystem and human health. Hence, developing an eco-friendly cost-effective process exploring the microbial agents appeared to be promising for the treatment of PhC contaminated effluents. A consortium of the previously isolated and identified South African indigenous fungal strains, namely Aspergillus niger, Mucor circinelloides, Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Trametes polyzona and Rhizopus microspores was used in a non-sterile stirred fluidized bioreactor (NSFB) to perform the simultaneous biodegradation of selected PhCs. The degradation of the PhCs, namely carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac (DCF) and ibuprofen (IBP) as well as their transformation metabolite compounds was carried out using the SPE-UPLC/MS. Here are presented data with regard to the NSFB design, the effect of the concentration of carbon source on the growth of a fungal consortium in the NSFB, the fungal mycelial morphology, and the assessment of the physicochemical parameters. The data displayed the stoichiometric reactions of the transformation fragments and their mass spectrum. For better understanding of the data presented in the present paper, please refer to the original paper "Degradation of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in non-sterile stirred fluidized bioreactor driven by a fungal consortium" [1].

Biodegradation of carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac sodium (DCF) and ibuprofen (IBP) was evaluated through fungal granules development in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Fungal granules were developed in co-culture of T. polyzona, A. niger, T. longibrachiatum, M. circinelloides and R. microsporus at a retention time (RT) of 2 days and 1 day. Ligninolytic enzymes [laccase (Lac), lignin peroxidase (LiP) and manganese peroxidase (MnP)] were determined. Removal of pharmaceuticals was assessed and metabolites identified using the SPE-UPLC-QToF/MS methods. A pH range of 3–4.6 was found to improve the granulation development from day 6 and the production of ligninolytic enzymes [MnP (253.00 ± 14.19 U/L), Lac (111.58 ± 10.00 U/L) and LiP (95.25 ± 8.22 U/L)]. At steady-state, a removal of 97.41±0.25%, 99.83±0.14%, and 99.91±0.08 were achieved at an RT of 2 days for CBZ, DCF, and IBP, respectively, and of 91.94±0.05%, 99.31±0.12% and 97.72±0.23% at an RT of 1 days for the same PhCs. A variety of chemical reactions have been proposed for degradation pathways catalysed by enzyme-producing fungi, generating fragment ions of intermediate compounds. This study is highly relevant for cost-effective and environmentally friendly wastewater treatment processes in water scare countries. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT