Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Insights into combined stress mechanisms of microplastics and antibiotics on anammox: A critical review

This review examines how microplastics and antibiotics together affect anammox bacteria, which are important for removing nitrogen from wastewater. Researchers found that combined exposure disrupts the bacteria through oxidative stress, cell membrane damage, and interference with key enzymes, often more severely than either pollutant alone. The study highlights that microplastic and antibiotic contamination in wastewater could undermine biological treatment processes.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 3 citations
Article Tier 2

How anammox responds to the emerging contaminants: Status and mechanisms

This review synthesizes research on how emerging contaminants including antibiotics, nanomaterials, heavy metals, and microplastics affect anammox bacteria used in wastewater nitrogen removal, identifying inhibition thresholds and possible recovery mechanisms.

2021 Journal of Environmental Management 52 citations
Article Tier 2

Inhibition of anammox activity by municipal and industrial wastewater pollutants: A review

This review compiles research on how various wastewater pollutants, including microplastics and emerging contaminants, inhibit anammox bacteria used for nitrogen removal in water treatment. Researchers found that pollutant type, concentration, and exposure duration all influence the degree of inhibition, potentially reducing treatment efficiency. The study highlights the importance of understanding pollutant interactions with biological treatment processes as new contaminants continue to appear in wastewater.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 76 citations
Article Tier 2

A review of microplastics on anammox: Influences and mechanisms

This review summarizes how microplastics affect anammox, a key biological process used in wastewater treatment to remove nitrogen. Microplastics disrupt the microbial communities that perform this process, reducing treatment efficiency depending on plastic concentration, size, and type. Since wastewater treatment is a critical barrier preventing pollutants from reaching drinking water sources, any reduction in treatment performance could increase human exposure to contaminants.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Impacts of Microplastics on Anammox Systems: A Comprehensive Review of Mechanisms and Influences

This review examines how microplastics affect anammox wastewater treatment systems, which are used for biological nitrogen removal. The study found that low concentrations of microplastics can actually enhance system performance by acting as biofilm carriers, while high concentrations inhibit the process through physical clogging, toxic effects, and oxidative stress.

2026 Public health and environment.
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoparticles regulate microbial stress response and cold adaptation in mainstream anammox process at low temperature

Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics at concentrations above 0.5 mg/L significantly impair nitrogen removal by anammox bacteria (microbes that convert ammonia to nitrogen gas) in wastewater treatment, with nanoplastics inducing oxidative stress, damaging cell membranes, and binding to cold-shock proteins that are critical for low-temperature bacterial performance.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Deciphering anammox response characteristics and potential mechanisms to polyethylene terephthalate microplastic exposure

This study tested how PET microplastics affect the bacteria used in wastewater treatment for removing nitrogen pollutants. Long-term exposure to high concentrations of PET microplastics reduced the nitrogen removal efficiency by nearly 29%, though the system partially recovered over three months. The findings matter because compromised wastewater treatment means more pollutants could end up in waterways that supply drinking water.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Insight into response characteristics and inhibition mechanisms of anammox granular sludge to polyethylene terephthalate microplastics exposure

This study tested how PET microplastics affect the anammox process, a key biological method used in wastewater treatment to remove nitrogen. At higher concentrations, PET particles reduced treatment efficiency by about 16% and weakened the structure of the bacterial granules that perform the process. The findings matter because microplastics in sewage could impair the very systems designed to clean our wastewater.

2023 Bioresource Technology 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Complex behavior between microplastic and antibiotic and their effect on phosphorus-removing Shewanella strain during wastewater treatment

Researchers examined how microplastics and antibiotics interact in wastewater treatment, finding that their combined stress disrupted phosphorus removal by Shewanella bacteria through altered adsorption behavior and metabolic interference.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Dissecting the effects of co-exposure to microplastics and sulfamethoxazole on anaerobic digestion

Researchers examined how microplastics combined with the antibiotic sulfamethoxazole affect the anaerobic digestion process used in wastewater treatment. They found that the combination reduced methane production and altered microbial communities, while also promoting widespread antibiotic resistance among the microorganisms. The study highlights concerns about how co-occurring microplastics and antibiotics in sewage could undermine wastewater treatment efficiency.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of Microplastics on Nitrogen Removal Performance of Enriched Anammox Cultures

Researchers tested whether polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics affect anammox, a key biological nitrogen removal process used in wastewater treatment. They found that the physical particles themselves did not significantly inhibit the process, but chemical compounds leaching from the plastics, particularly the plasticizer dibutyl phthalate, caused temporary inhibition. Systems using granular or attached biomass structures showed better resilience to these chemical effects than suspended growth systems.

2026 Water
Article Tier 2

Advances in responses of microalgal-bacterial symbiosis to emerging pollutants in wastewater

Researchers reviewed how microalgal-bacterial symbiotic systems respond to antibiotics, heavy metals, nanoparticles, and microplastics in wastewater, finding that antibiotics exhibit hormesis effects (stimulatory at low doses, inhibitory at high doses) and that the consortium tolerates heavy metals below 1 mg/L but loses treatment efficacy at 10 mg/L.

2023 World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Impaired denitrification of aerobic granules in response to micro/nanoplastic stress: Insights from interspecies interactions and electron transfer processes

This study found that micro- and nanoplastics in wastewater disrupt the ability of beneficial bacteria to remove nitrogen through a process called denitrification. After 90 days of plastic exposure, the communication system bacteria use to coordinate their activity broke down, leading to an imbalance where some bacteria stopped contributing while still consuming shared resources. This reduced the overall efficiency of biological wastewater treatment, a system many communities rely on to clean their water.

2025 Water Research 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Advances in Studies on Microbiota Involved in Nitrogen Removal Processes and Their Applications in Wastewater Treatment

This review summarizes advances in the microbial communities involved in nitrogen removal from wastewater, covering nitrification, denitrification, and newer processes such as anammox. Understanding these microbiota is essential for improving biological treatment strategies to address excess nitrogenous pollutants in aquatic ecosystems.

2021 Frontiers in Microbiology 41 citations
Article Tier 2

The Role of Wastewater Treatment Plants in Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance: Source, Measurement, Removal and Risk Assessment

This review examines how wastewater treatment plants handle antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their resistance genes, finding that current treatment processes do not fully remove them. Different levels of treatment show varying removal rates, and resistant bacteria can still be found in treated water released into the environment. While not directly about microplastics, the findings are relevant because microplastics in wastewater can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria into waterways.

2024 Antibiotics 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and anammox: Unravelling the hidden threats to nitrogen cycling and microbial resilience

This review examined how microplastics disrupt nitrogen cycling in soil by interfering with specialized bacteria that remove nitrogen from the environment. Researchers found that microplastics alter microbial habitats, destabilize bacterial communities, and attract heavy metals that further inhibit these essential soil processes, with effects varying based on soil acidity and organic matter content.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanistic insights into the impact of multi-dimensional microplastic stress on nitrogen removal by heterotrophic nitrifying-aerobic denitrifying bacteria: A meta-transcriptomic analysis

Researchers studied how different types of microplastics affect bacteria that are used to remove nitrogen from wastewater. They found that PVC microplastics were particularly disruptive, interfering with enzyme function and gene expression needed for denitrification. The study provides molecular-level insights into how microplastic pollution could undermine biological wastewater treatment systems.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 2 citations
Article Tier 2

From wastewater to sludge: The role of microplastics in shaping anaerobic digestion performance and antibiotic resistance gene dynamics

This review examines how microplastics in wastewater treatment plants affect the anaerobic digestion process used to break down sewage sludge, finding that certain plastic types can either boost or reduce biogas production depending on conditions. Importantly, microplastics increased the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes by up to 514%, raising serious concerns that wastewater treatment -- meant to protect public health -- may instead become a breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant bacteria when microplastics are present.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 17 citations
Article Tier 2

The contamination of microplastics and antibiotics in aquaculture wastewater: Their remediation technologies and interaction effects on their removal

This review paper found that tiny plastic particles (microplastics) and antibiotics in fish farm wastewater interact with each other in ways that make both pollutants harder to remove from water. The plastic bits can soak up antibiotics and change how they break down, while antibiotics can interfere with removing the plastics. This matters because both microplastics and antibiotic pollution can harm human health, so we need better cleanup methods that tackle both problems together.

2026 Marine Pollution Bulletin
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the plastisphere in anammox process: Physicochemical evolution of microplastics and microbial succession dynamics

Researchers tracked how polyethylene terephthalate microplastics change physically and chemically over 30 days in an anaerobic wastewater treatment system. They found that while the microplastics had minimal impact on nitrogen removal efficiency, they developed distinct microbial communities on their surfaces that evolved over time. The study provides new insights into how microplastics interact with beneficial microbes in wastewater treatment processes.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Mechanisms underlying the detrimental impact of micro(nano)plastics on the stability of aerobic granular sludge: Interactions between micro(nano)plastics and extracellular polymeric substances

Researchers found that both micro- and nanoplastics at realistic concentrations harmed the performance of aerobic granular sludge, a technology used for wastewater treatment, by reducing its ability to remove nitrogen. The plastic particles interacted with the sticky substances that hold the sludge granules together, weakening their structural integrity. The study reveals a specific mechanism by which plastic pollution can undermine wastewater treatment systems that communities rely on for clean water.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanophotocatalytic synergistic degradation of antibiotics and microplastics: Mechanisms, material design, and environmental applications

This review examines how microplastics and antibiotics interact in water during photocatalytic treatment, finding that microplastics can both help (by shuttling electrons) and hinder (by shielding light or hosting biofilms) the degradation process, depending on conditions. Aged microplastics — which have more surface oxygen groups — adsorb more antibiotics, making them tougher composite targets for treatment systems. Understanding these interactions is essential for designing water purification systems that can handle the combined pollution reality of modern waterways.

2026 Environmental Technology & Innovation
Article Tier 2

Co-occurrence of microplastics and triclosan inhibited nitrification function and enriched antibiotic resistance genes in nitrifying sludge

Researchers found that co-exposure to four types of microplastics (PE, PS, PVC, and PA) and the antimicrobial agent triclosan inhibited nitrification function and enriched antibiotic resistance genes in nitrifying sludge from wastewater treatment. The combined presence of microplastics and triclosan posed greater risk to biological wastewater treatment performance than either contaminant alone.

2020 Journal of Hazardous Materials 110 citations
Article Tier 2

Exposure to nanoplastic induces cell damage and nitrogen inhibition of activated sludge: Evidence from bacterial individuals and groups

Researchers exposed activated sludge in a wastewater treatment reactor to polystyrene nanoplastics at concentrations up to 10 mg/L over 30 days. They found that nanoplastic exposure caused cell membrane damage, increased oxidative stress, and significantly inhibited nitrogen removal processes. The study suggests that nanoplastic accumulation in wastewater treatment plants could compromise their ability to effectively process nitrogen-containing pollutants.

2022 Environmental Pollution 52 citations