Phytoremediation of “Contaminants of Emerging Concern”

1. Phytoremediation of “Contaminants of Emerging Concern” Corbett Landes, Kim Fewless, and Meg Hollowed November 11, 2010 BZ 572

2. Prevalence in the Environment • Found in 80% of U.S. streams • Largely either very hydrophilic or hydrophobic compounds • Most frequently detected: • steroids • non-prescription drugs • insect repellent • detergent metabolites • disinfectants • Highest concentrations: • steroids • non-prescription drugs • detergent metabolites • plasticizers • disinfectants • antibiotics

3. Why do we care about pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants? • Low concentrations, but: • many compounds aren’t regulated • fate and transport of metabolites aren’t well understood • potential for interactive effects • Where do they come from? • wastewater treatment plant effluent • agricultural operations/runoff • Organizations currently engaged in research: EPA, WHO, USGS, etc.

4. Potential applications for phytoremediation • Municipal wastewater treatment • Feedlot or dairy farm waste stream treatment • Agricultural runoff abatement

5. Antibiotics • Agricultural Sources: • Growth promotion and disease prevention • Released to the environment through: • feedlot runoff streams • leaks • runoff from manure-applied agriculture • Consequences • antibiotic resistant microorganisms

6. Antibiotics Cont: • CSU study • Aquatic plants • Parrot feather (M.aquaticum) and water lettuce (P. stratiotes) • Hairy root cultures of sunflower (H.annuus) • Antibiotics: tetracycline and oxytetracycline • Mechanism: degradation by root-secreted enzymes

7. Antibiotics, Cont: • Conversion of former shrimp aquaculture facilities contaminated with antibiotics and with elevated salinity • Antibiotics: oxytetracycline, norfloxacin • Tested soybean for uptake/degradation, affect of salinity and antibiotics on soybean plants • Translocation did not occur • Antibiotic accumulation only in root tissue • Kow=-0.9 and -1.8

8. Pharmaceuticals

9. Acetaminophen Can be moved into plants Causes irrevocable damage in most plants tested Most success found in Lupinus albus

10. Ibuprofen Phragmites australis

11. Hormones/Endocrine Disruptors Removal of phenolic endocrine disruptors by Portulaca oleracea Specifically bisphenol A Could potentially be used as a cash crop

12. Steroids in Swine Wastewater • Anaerobic lagoon and constructed wetlands • Shown to decrease estrogen activity by 83-93% • Estrone was the most persistent compound • Also decreases nutrient content

13. Constructed Wetlands Typhaangustifolia Phragmitesaustralis

14. Aquatic Plants

15. Summary: constructed wetlands • Wetlands and other aquatic phytoremediation of PPCPs works as well as traditional treatment • Application in developing countries • May be more cost effective • Variation in degradation requirements • Anaerobic/aerobic • Temperature • Photolysis • Sorption/degradation • Use patterns (Macleod, 2010)

16. CONCLUSIONS • Some success has been achieved with specific plants/compounds • Must consider risks: • Invasive species • Metabolites • Ability to remediate a mixture of compounds • Research is still being conducted to understand the fate and transport of CECs/PPCPs • At this time, no single plant or constructed wetland set-up can remove all PPCPs in wastewater treatment plant effluent

17. References (1) • Barthaet al. (2010). Effects of acetominophen in Brassicajuncea L. Czern: investigation of uptake, translocation, detoxification, and the induced defense pathways. Env. Sci. Pollut. Res., 17, 1553-1562. • Boonsaner, M. and Hawker, D.W. (2010). Accumulation of oxytetracycline and norfloxacin from saline soil by soybeans. Sci of the Total Env, 408, 1731-1737. • Conkle JL et al. (2010) Competitive sorption and desorption behavior for three fluoroquinolone antibiotics in a wastewater treatment wetland soil. Chemosphere 80, 1353-1359. • Dordio A et al. (2010) Removal of pharmaceuticals in microcosm constructed wetlands using Typha spp. and LECA. Bioresource Technology 101, 886-892. • Hijosa-Valsero M et al. (2010a) Assessment of full-scale natural systems for the removal of PPCPs from wastewater in small communites. Water Research 44, 1429-1439. • Hijosa-Valsero M et al. (2010b) Comprehensive assessment of the design configuration of constructed wetlands for the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from urban wastewaters. Water Research 44, 3669-3678. • Gujarathiet al. (2005). Phytoremediation potential of M.aquaticum and P.stratiotes to modify antibiotic growth promoters, tetracycline and oxytetracycline, in aqueous wastewater systems. Int. Journal of Phytoremediation, 7, 99-112.

18. References (2) • Gujarthiet al. (2005). Hairy roots of H.annuus: a model system to study the phytoremediation of tetracycline and oxytetracycline. Biotech. Prog. 21, 775-780. • Imai et al. (2007). Removal of phenolic endocrine disruptors by Portulacaoleracea. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengr., 103(5), 420-426. • Kolpinet al. (2002). Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: a national reconaissance. Env. Sci. & Tech., 36, 1202-1211. • Kotyzaet al. (2010). Phytoremediation of pharmaceuticals- preliminary study. Int. Journal of Phytoremediation, 12, 306-316. • MacLeod, SL et al. (2010) Loadings, trends, comparisons, and fate of achiral and chiral pharmaceuticals in wastewaters from urban tertiary and rural aerated lagoon treatments. Water research 44, 533-544. • Reinhold D et al. (2010) Assessment of plant-driven removal of emerging organic pollutants by duckweed. Chemosphere 80, 687-692.

19. References (3) • Matamoros et al. (2007). Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from urban wastewater in a pilot vertical flow constructed wetland and a sand filter. Env. Sci. & Tech., 41, 8171-8177. • Pedersen et al. (2005). Human pharmaceutical, hormones, and personal care product ingredients in runoff from agricultural fields irrigated with treated wastewater. J. Agr. Food. Chem., 53, 1625-1632. • Schroder et al. (2007). Using phytoremediation technologies to upgrade wastewater treatment in Europe. Env. Sci. Pollut. Res., 14 (7), 490-497. • Shappell et. al. (2007). Estrogenic activity and steroid hormones in swine wastewater through a lagoon constructed-wetland system. Env. Sci. and Tech., 41, 444-450. • Shi W. et al. (2010) Removal of estrone, 17α-ethinylestradiol, and 17 –estradiol in algae and duckweed-based wastewater treatment systems. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res 17, 824-833. • Song HL et al. (2009) Estrogen removal from treated municipal effluent in small-scale constructed wetland with different depth. Bioresource Technology 100, 2945-2951. • Toppet al. (2008). Runoff of pharmaceuticals and personal care products following application of biosolids to an agricultural field. Sci. of the Total Env., 396, 52-59.