Enrichment and characterization of steroid-degrading microbes for targeted removal of steroid hormone micropollutants in small-scale wastewater treatment solutions | Microbiology Spectrum

Steroid hormones are endocrine-disrupting compounds exhibiting adverse effects on humans and the environment even at very low concentrations. Their removal during water treatment is often insufficient, and novel methods are required to increase hormone micropollutant removal from wastewater. This study enriched and isolated steroid hormone-degrading microorganisms in a flow-through system and tested their usability for bioaugmentation of small-scale water treatment solutions. While removal of estrogen hormones was found to be mainly abiotic, efficient biological androgen degradation was achieved. The combined results show that flow-through reactors, along with appropriate surface materials, are suitable for isolating biofilm-forming and hormone-degrading bacteria and that these microbes can be used for bioaugmentation to remove low concentrations of steroid hormones from wastewater. Based on these results, recommendations for future enrichment studies for bioaugmentation are formulated, and potential pitfalls are discussed.