Exploring Bacterial Cellulose and a Biosurfactant as Eco-Friendly Strategies for Addressing Pharmaceutical Contaminants.

ABSTRACT: Aquatic environments face contamination by pharmaceuticals, prompting concerns due to their toxicity even at low concentrations. To combat this, we developed an ecologically sustainable biosurfactant derived from a microorganism and integrated it into bacterial cellulose (BC). This study aimed to evaluate BC's efficacy, with and without the biosurfactant, as a sorbent for paracetamol and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) in water. We cultivated BC membranes using Gluconacetobacter xylinus ATCC 53582 and synthesized the biosurfactant through pre-inoculation of Bacillus subtilis in a synthetic medium. Subsequently, BC membranes were immersed in the biosurfactant solution for incorporation. Experiments were conducted using contaminated water, analyzing paracetamol concentrations via sp

SUBMITTER: Castanho NRCM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10818349 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature