Biodegradation of natural and synthetic estrogens by nitrifying activated sludge and ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea

This report describes the uses of nitrifying activated sludge (NAS) and ammonia-oxidizing bacterium Nitrosomonas europaea to significantly degrade estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2). Using NAS, the degradation of estrogens obeyed first-order reaction kinetics with degradation rate constants of 0.056 h−1 for E1, 1.3 h−1 for E2, 0.030 h−1 for E3, and 0.035 h−1 for EE2, indicating that E2 was most easily degraded. Then, we confirmed that E2 was degraded via E1 by NAS. With/without the ammonia oxidation inhibitor, it was observed that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in conjunction with other microorganisms in NAS degraded estrogens. Using N. europaea, the degradation of estrogens reasonably obeyed zero-order reaction kinetics, and no remarkable difference is present among the four estrogens degradation rates and it was found that E1 was not detected during E2 degradation period. We suggested that E2 was degraded to E1 in NAS could be caused by other heterotrophic bacteria, not by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria.