Removal and Biodegradation of Nonylphenol by Four Freshwater Microalgae

Ning He, Xian Sun, Yu Zhong, Kaifeng Sun, Weijie Liu and Shunshan Duan
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Ning He: Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Xian Sun: Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Yu Zhong: Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Kaifeng Sun: Research Center of Offshore Marine Environment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, MEP, Guangzhou 510655, China
Weijie Liu: Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Shunshan Duan: Institute of Hydrobiology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: The removal and biodegradation of nonylphenol (NP) by four freshwater microalgae, including three green algae ( Scendesmus quadriauda , Chlorella vulgaris , and Ankistrodesmus acicularis ) and one cyanobacterium ( Chroococcus minutus ) were studied in bacteria-free cultures exposed to different concentrations of NP for 5 days. All four algal species showed a rapid and high ability to remove NP (including bioaccumulation and biodegradation). Among these species, A. acicularis ( Ankistrodesmus acicularis ) had the highest NP removal rate (83.77%) at 120 h when exposed to different NP treatments (0.5–2.5 mg·L ?1 ), followed by C. vulgaris ( Chlorella vulgaris ) (80.80%), S. quadriauda (Scendesmus quadriauda) (70.96%) and C. minutus ( Chroococcus minutus ) (64.26%). C. vulgaris had the highest NP biodegradation percentage (68.80%) at 120 h, followed by A. acicularis (65.63%), S. quadriauda (63.10%); and C. minutus (34.91%). The extracellular NP contents were lower than the intracellular NP contents in all tested algae. The ratio of the extracellular NP content and the intracellular NP content ranged from 0.04 to 0.85. Therefore, the removal of NP from the medium was mainly due to the algal degradation. These results indicate that A. acicularis and C. vulgaris are more tolerant to NP and could be used for treatment of NP contaminated aqueous systems effectively by bioremoval and biodegradation.

Keywords: nonylphenol; microalgae; removal; biodegradation; removal mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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