Preserving the Biotransformation Potential of Activated Sludge in Time: Toward Reproducible Incubation Experiments for Persistence Assessment.

ABSTRACT: Biotransformation assays conducted in activated sludge (AS) from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) offer various benefits, most notably the high microbial density and comparably high bioavailability of the chemicals, enabling short experimental times of 72 h. Moreover, rate constants determined in AS experiments have shown the potential to be used as predictors for half-lives in other environmental compartments, such as soil. Therefore, biotransformation experiments with AS could serve as a valuable basis for developing standardized, high-throughput persistence tests used for screening purposes, e.g., in a benign-by-design framework, if reproducibility of experimental outcomes can be ensured. Here, we tested protocols for the preservation of AS microbial communities using lyophilization

SUBMITTER: Kalt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11912309 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature