Pharmaceutical degradation in conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) represents a challenge since municipal wastewater and hospital effluents contain pharmaceuticals in low concentrations (recalcitrant and persistent in WWTP) and biodegradable organic matter (BOM) is the main pollutant. This work shows the feasibility of coupling electro-oxidation with a biological system for the simultaneous removal of recalcitrant drugs (bezafibrate, gemfibrozil, indomethacin and sulfamethoxazole (BGIS)) and BOM from wastewater. High removal efficiencies were attained without affecting the performance of activated sludge. BGIS degradation was performed by advanced electrochemical oxidation and the activated sludge process for BOM degradation in a continuous reactor. The selected electrochemical parameters from microelectrolysis tests (1.2 L s⁻¹ and 1.56 mA cm⁻²) were maintained to operate a filter press laboratory reactor FM01-LC using boron-doped diamond as the anode. The low current density was chosen in order to remove drugs without decreasing BOM and chlorine concentration control, so as to avoid bulking formation in the biological process. The wastewater previously treated by FM01-LC was fed directly (without chemical modification) to the activated sludge reactor to remove 100% of BGIS and 83% of BOM; conversely, the BGIS contained in wastewater without electrochemical pre-treatment were persistent in the biological process and promoted bulking formation.

Denitrification is a feasible alternative for the treatment of phenolic bearing-wastewaters. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biodegradability of phenolic compounds, as the only carbon and energy source in batch and continuous experiments, using nitrate as a final electron acceptor. Experiments in a continuous upward anaerobic sludge bed reactor demonstrated the possibility of biodegrading a mixture of phenol and 3,4-dimethylphenol at organic loads of 251.6 and 39.5 mg/L-d, respectively, at a COD/NO₃^--N ratio of 2.57. A nitrogen production efficiency of 86% was obtained according to the nitrate consumption. GC-MS analyses demonstrated that m-cresol was an intermediate of 3,4-dimethylphenol degradation in batch conditions, and had an inhibitory effect on phenol degradation.

The laccase (Lac), manganese peroxidases (MnP), and lignin peroxidase enzymes produced by basidiomycete have been studied due to their potential in bioremediation, therefore, in this study, degradation of diclofenac (DCF), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), indomethacin (IND), gemfibrozil (GFB), and bezafibrate (BZF) by enzymes produced by Trametes maxima, Pleurotus sp., and Pycnosporus sanguineus grown in culture was evaluated. The degradation of drugs can mainly be attributed to MnP because a correlation between the activity of this enzyme and the degree of removal was found. The specific activity of Lac did not show correlation with drug removal, while lignin peroxidase was not expressed. Trametes maxima showed the highest specific activity of MnP (387.6 ± 67.4 U/mg) and efficiency removal 90.2% of DCF, 72.62% of SMX, 60.76% of IND, 43.39% of GFB, and 32.59% of BZF) followed by Pleurotus sp. with specific activity of MnP of 55.9 ± 8.5 U/mg and 89.47% of DCF, 47.61% of GFB and 73% of IND were removed, P. sanguineus had the lowest specific activity of 18 ± 1.3 U/mg and was able to remove only 42% of SMX and 10.59% of IND. In order to prove that MnP remove drugs instead of Lac, the pure Lac was tested and only degraded DCF.

The scaling of Raceway bioreactors was studied by geometric and mechanical similarity, with an order of magnitude of 1:10. The hydrodynamic parameters involved (flow velocity, hydrodynamic stress or shear stress, dimensionless numbers of Re, Fr, and Euler Power) at different stirring speeds (30, 35, 40, and 45 rpm) were determined. The study, carried out using low-density particle imaging velocimetry (PIV), showed that the speed of the liquid medium remains above 30 cm/s from 30 rpm, which ensures turbulence in the system. The flow velocity suffers a decrease of approximately 18%, at different angular velocities, with similar biomass concentrations (3.24 × 10⁵–3.72 × 10⁵ cells/mL). This decrease in speed directly affects the values of all the parameters involved in the bioreactor. Furthermore, the measurement of hydrodynamic stress (τ) indicates that the microorganisms are exposed to a value of 0.299 Pa at 35 rpm and 0.370 Pa at 40 rpm. Due to mechanical agitation, hydrodynamic stress values in Raceway systems have not been previously reported. The studies were carried out in a 10 L Raceway bioreactor using a consortium of microalgae and cyanobacteria where Spirulina sp. and Pseudanabaena sp. predominate.

Enzymatic hydrolysis of complex components of residual materials, such as food waste, is a rate-limiting step that conditionates the production rate of biofuels. Research into the anaerobic degradation of cellulose and starch, which are abundant components in organic waste, could contribute to optimize biofuels production processes. In this work, a lab-scale anaerobic semi-continuous hydrolytic reactor was operated for 171 days using food waste as feedstock; the effect of Ba²⁺ dosage over the activity of five hydrolytic enzymes was also evaluated. No significant effects were observed on the global performance of the hydrolytic process during the steady-state of the operation of the reactor, nevertheless, it was detected that Ba²⁺ promoted β-amylases activity by 76%, inhibited endoglucanases and α-amylases activity by 39 and 20%, respectively, and had no effect on β-glucosidases and glucoamylases activity. The mechanisms that rule the observed enzymatic activity changes remain unknown; however, the discussion in this paper provides hypothetical explanations for further research.