Removal of sulfamethoxazole and Cu, Cd compound pollution by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhanced vertical flow constructed wetlands

Yinghe Jiang; Yinqi Zhao; Yubo Liu; Yihui Ban; Kaiguo Li; Xiaomei Li; Xiangling Zhang; Zhouying Xu

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.117982

Removal of sulfamethoxazole and Cu, Cd compound pollution by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhanced vertical flow constructed wetlands

Environ Res. 2024 Mar 15:245:117982. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117982. Epub 2023 Dec 22.

Authors

Yinghe Jiang¹, Yinqi Zhao¹, Yubo Liu¹, Yihui Ban², Kaiguo Li¹, Xiaomei Li¹, Xiangling Zhang¹, Zhouying Xu³

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, China.
² School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, China.
³ School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, China. Electronic address: xuzhouying@whut.edu.cn.

PMID: 38142732
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117982

Abstract

The combined pollution of antibiotics and heavy metals (HMs) has a serious impact on the water ecological environment. Previous researches mainly focused on the removal of antibiotics or HMs as single pollutants, with limited investigation into the treatment efficiencies and underlying mechanisms associated with their co-occurring pollution. In this study, 16 micro vertical flow constructed wetlands (MVFCWs) were constructed to treat composite wastewater consisting of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd), involving two different inoculation treatments (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculated and uninoculated) and eight kinds of pollutant exposure (Control Check (CK), SMX, Cu, Cd, SMX + Cu, SMX + Cd, Cu + Cd, SMX + Cu + Cd). The findings of this study demonstrated that the inoculation of AMF in MVFCWs resulted in removal efficiencies of SMX, Cu, and Cd ranging from 18.70% to 80.52%, 75.18% to 96.61%, and 40.50% to 89.23%, respectively. Cu and CuCd promoted the degradation of SMX in the early stage and inhibited the degradation of SMX in the later stage. Cd did not demonstrate a comparable promotive impact on SMX degradation, and its addition hindered Cu removal. However, comparatively, the presence of Cu exerted a more pronounced inhibitory effect on Cd removal. Furthermore, the addition of Cu augmented the abundances of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes (at the phylum level) and Rhodobacter, Lacunisphaera and Flavobacterium (at the genus level), and Cu exposure showed a substantially stronger influence on the microbial community than that of Cd and SMX. AMF might confer protection to plants against HMs and antibiotics by enriching Nakamurella and Lacunisphaera. These findings proved that AMF-C. indica MVFCW was a promising system, and the inoculation of AMF effectively enhanced the simultaneous removal of compound pollution.

Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Combined pollution; Heavy metals; Micro vertical flow constructed wetlands; Sulfamethoxazole.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Cadmium / analysis
Metals, Heavy*
Mycorrhizae* / chemistry
Mycorrhizae* / metabolism
Plant Roots / metabolism
Plant Roots / microbiology
Soil Pollutants* / analysis
Sulfamethoxazole
Wetlands

Substances

Cadmium
Sulfamethoxazole
Metals, Heavy
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Soil Pollutants