Microplastics are newly emerged contaminants existing in every environment, contributing not only to accumulation of plastics, but also the spreading of micropollutants adsorbed to their surface. Wastewater treatment plants are an important releasing point of microplastics to the environment, although they are mostly retained in the activated sludge, where they became part of the ecosystem. The microbial communities of the sludge might have adapted to live in a plastic rich environment being able to degrade the polymers by the production of several enzymes. This research line has two main goals, to study the fate of the microplastics in the wastewater treatment plant by optimizing and implementing a standard protocols to isolate, quantify and identify microplastics. Also, we aim to isolate bacterial biofilms equipped with the machinery to degrade plastic polymers, which could be further converted into value-added products.

Projects

· Degrading-plastic bacterial communities in activated sludge from Waste water treatment plants (PlasticBugs). Comunidades bacterianas degradadoras de microplásticos en fango activo de plantas de tratamiento de aguas residuales (PlasticBugs)
Spanish Government. Retos-JIN (2020-2023)

· Study of the degradation of different types of plastics (myco- and macroplastics) by microorganisms associated with water treatment. Ramón y Cajal. Spanish Government. (2023-2028)