Re-inoculation strategies enhance the degradation of emerging pollutants in fungal bioaugmentation of sewage sludge

The use of Trametes versicolor has been partially successful in the removal of some pharmaceuticals from sewage sludge in laboratory-scale biopile systems. The application of two strategies for the re-inoculation of biomass was assessed during the fungal bioaugmentation of non-sterile sludge (42-d treatment) as an approach to improve the elimination of pharmaceuticals and other groups of emerging pollutants. Globally, the re-inoculation of biopiles with blended mycelium exerted a major effect on the removal of pharmaceuticals (86%), brominated-flame-retardants (81%) and UV filters (80%) with respect to the re-inoculation with additional lignocellulosic substrate colonized by the fungus (69–67–22%). The performance was better than that of the analogous non-re-inoculated systems that were assayed previously for the removal of pharmaceuticals. The results demonstrate the ability of T. versicolor to remove a wide spectrum of emerging micropollutants under non-sterile conditions, while re-inoculation appears to be a useful step to improve the fungal treatment of sludge.