Constructive use of filamentous fungi to remove pharmaceutical substances from wastewater

The removal efficiency of diclofenac and ketoprofen for five fungal strains was examined. The synergistic effect between selected fungal strains using synthetic wastewater media was studied using both individual and mixed strains. The mixed cultures had no additional effect in reducing diclofenac and ketoprofen. In contrary, fungi removed pharmaceutical substances faster when growing individually. The results showed that T. versicolor monoculture removed diclofenac completely (> 99.9 %) in non-sterile municipal wastewater within three hours of incubation and continued to show complete reduction within 14 days using fungal biofilm carriers. The mechanism of removal was proposed based on the laccase enzyme production and biosorption study which revealed that T. versicolor could used in both processes. Additionally, this study demonstrated that T. versicolor could be stable in the biofilm carriers, and thus able to compete with other microorganisms in wastewater to be a promising candidate to remove diclofenac from municipal wastewater during the treatment process.