Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1007/s00253-019-10202-9
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) How to accurately assess surfactant biodegradation-impact of sorption on the validity of results
Author Cierniak, D.; Woźniak-Karczewska, M.; Parus, A.; Wyrwas, B.; Loibner, A.P.; Heipieper, H.J. ORCID logo ; Ławniczak, Ł.; Chrzanowski, Ł.
Source Titel Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Year 2020
Department UBT
Volume 104
Issue 1
Page From 1
Page To 12
Language englisch
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1007%2Fs00253-019-10202-9/MediaObjects/253_2019_10202_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Keywords Activated sludge; Bacillus cereus; Biodegradation; Pseudomonas putida; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Sorption; Surfactant
Abstract Surfactants not only are widely used in biotechnological processes but also constitute significant contaminants of the modern world. Among many reports, there is a shortage of works which summarize the issue of surfactant sorption to biomass in a way that would elucidate the biological factors for analysts and analytical factors for microbiologists. The main factor, which is not as obvious as one would expect, is associated with the susceptibility of analytical approaches to errors resulting from incorrect handling of biomass. In case of several publications reviewed in the framework of this study, it was not possible to establish whether the decrease of the analytical signal observed by the authors actually resulted from biodegradation of the surfactant. This review emphasizes the necessity to consider the possibility of surfactant sorption to microbial cells, which may result in significant detection errors as well as conceptual inconsistency. In addition, a reference study regarding representative surfactants (cationic, anionic and non-ionic) as well as yeast, Gram-negative, Gram-positive bacteria, and activated sludge was provided to highlight the possible errors which may arise from disregarding sorption processes when determining degradation of surfactants. This particularly applies to systems which include ionic surfactants and activated sludge as sorption may account for 90% of the observed depletion of the surfactant. Therefore, a systematic approach was proposed in order to improve the credibility of the obtained results. Finally, the need to employ additional procedures was highlighted which may be required in order to verify that the decrease of surfactant concentration results from biodegradation processes.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=22421
Cierniak, D., Woźniak-Karczewska, M., Parus, A., Wyrwas, B., Loibner, A.P., Heipieper, H.J., Ławniczak, Ł., Chrzanowski, Ł. (2020):
How to accurately assess surfactant biodegradation-impact of sorption on the validity of results
Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 104 (1), 1 - 12 10.1007/s00253-019-10202-9