Microrganismos do solo agrícola e sua capacidade de atuar na biorremediação de efluentes contaminados com fármacos derivados de acetaminofeno

Abstract

A new branch of research is gaining prominence in the scientific community; investigate and eliminate organic compounds that emerge in the environment in a chronic form, the so-called emerging contaminants. These micropollutants over time and deposition can generate bioaccumulation if not degraded. One of the main contaminants listed are drugs such as acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, which is the drug most commonly found in Brazilian homes. The literature brings data that report the significant presence of acetaminophen in effluents and with that the search for solutions of degradation of these compounds increased. Bioremediation appears as an option and consists of a technique that uses living organisms such as microorganisms to decontaminate polluted areas. The objective of this work was to identify the ability of the agricultural soil microbiota to degrade acetaminophen in the effluents from its metabolism and for this, the respirometry method was used, which consisted of creating a semi-closed environment where the CO2 released during microbial metabolism is dissolved in a KOH solution which was titrated against HCL and from the conversion equation the value of CO2 produced during biodegradation was obtained. For analysis, samples from the Piracicaba River (Piracicaba/SP) were used, where there is the presence of about 300ng/L-1 of acetaminophen according to the literature. As variables, the different concentrations and the presence and absence of the soil inoculum containing the microorganisms were analyzed. The results point to a significant efficacy in the biodegradation of the drug at a concentration of 10x in the presence of soil inoculum, suggesting that soil microorganisms can act in the bioremediation of these contaminated effluents.