Monitoring emerging contaminants in wastewater and developing novel bioprocess to eliminate their potential risks

The accumulation of emerging contaminants (ECs) in the environment is a major global concern. Personal care products such as shampoo, soap, detergents, UV-blocking creams, and pharmaceuticals contain various type of ECs including antibiotics and endocrine-disrupting compounds. As a result of our daily activities, ECs enter wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) through the sewage system. Conventional municipal wastewater treatment plants with no advanced capabilities are not able to remove ECs from sewage, resulting in polluted wastewater discharges into rivers and the wider environment [1]. 

Compounds such as Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, bisphenol A (BPA). have a persistent nature and accumulate in animals and humans. Despite their low acute toxicity they have the potential to induce a large range of long-term effects, such as developmental impacts, neurological disorders, type 2 diabetes, and cancers [2][3].  

In order to remove ECs from wastewater a number of advanced treatment methods including advanced oxidation, adsorption, and membrane separation have been developed recently [4]. Even though the various ECs can be efficiently degraded by advanced oxidation processes, the major limitation of these technologies is their relatively high-cost process due to the use of costly chemicals, increased energy consumption, and the formation of unknown recalcitrant by-products [5]. The purpose of this project is to develop a lower cost approach to treatment that embraces environmental sustainability concepts. 

Nature’s tiny engineers, microorganisms, have developed remarkable abilities to survive. In nature, white rot fungi, an efficient lignin degrading organism, [6] possess enzymes that can be used to degrade various recalcitrant and toxic compounds including ECs. Recent studies, showed that some ligninolytic enzymes can be used to treat a number of ECs [6][7][8]. 

Ligninolytic enzymes, including laccase and manganese peroxidase, produce highly reactive nonspecific free radicals which can be used to degrade some ECs, especially pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupters. The aim is this project is to detect and monitor some ECs in wastewater streams and develop an enzyme-based bioprocess which can be further used to remove ECs in next-generation WWTPs.  

Project Highlights:

• Applied research that develops industry relevant knowledge and skills in environmental engineering.
• Laboratory-based with field and travel opportunities.
• Development of a novel biocatalytic approach with transformative impact.

Methodology: 

A monitoring strategy will be developed to regularly measure the presence of ECs in wastewater streams, enabling the detection of any trends in their release. Enzymatic degradation of ECs will be tested to assess the performance and degradation characteristics of enzymes on a range of ECs commonly found in wastewater. Following the selection of suitable enzymes, optimised conditions will be integrated into a bioreactor and the economics of the proposed bioprocess will be evaluated. An innovative bioprocess will be developed to remove ECs in wastewater effectively. The results obtained from this study can be used by WWTPs to mitigate the escalating health risks of ECs. 

Discipline: Environmental Engineering 

Key words: Water pollution, emerging contaminants, wastewater treatment, bioprocess development

Supervisory team: Pinar Karagoz, Carl Boardman, Alice Fraser-Mcdonald 

Further details:

PhD researcher will be responsible of designing and conducting experiments to optimise the reaction conditions and improving enzymatic degradation yield of ECs.  This project would suit engineers from environmental, biochemical or chemical backgrounds and environmental scientists. The ideal candidate should have experience in microbial culturing, protein production and purification. Understanding the fundamentals of enzyme kinetics and technical knowledge of enzyme immobilisation could be desirable. The ideal candidate should be selfmotivated and have good communication skills.  If you have any specific questions regarding the project, please contact Dr. Pinar Karagoz pinar.karagoz@open.ac.uk. 

Applications should include:

• A 1000 word cover letter outlining why the project is of interest to you and how your skills match those required 
• an academic CV containing contact details of three academic references 
• an Open University application form, downloadable from: http://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/research-degrees/how-to-apply/mphil-and-phdapplication-process
• IELTS test scores where English is an additional language 

Applications should be sent to  STEM-EI-PhD@open.ac.uk by 31.01.2025