Type: Experimental bioreactor
Location: Spain
Researchers investigated whether the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor could remove bentazone, a widely used agricultural herbicide, from contaminated water.
After promising flask experiments, the researchers moved the fungus into a trickle-bed reactor where it was immobilised on pine woodchips and operated under non-sterile conditions.
Performance was lower than in the controlled laboratory experiments, but the reactor continued operating for 30 days and achieved average bentazone removal of 48%. The project provides a particularly useful example of the challenges involved in moving fungal remediation from laboratory experiments toward practical engineered systems.
Explore the research:
Research paper and project details