Bacterial biodegradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) using pure pseudomonas strains

The principal objective of the present research involved the achievement of high biodegradation
degrees of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS) using pure
individual bacterial strains. The use of such microorganisms can contribute to the improvement of the
wastewater treatment process in sewage treatment plants through bioaugmentation or other bioremediation
processes. Thus, in this study, we investigated the biodegradation potential of PFOA and
PFOS. Bacterial strains tested in this study were from the Pseudomonas genus, namely: Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida, due to their known capacity to degrade xenobiotic compounds.
The results indicated that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was able to transform 27.9% of PFOA and 47.3% of
PFOS in 96 h, while Pseudomonas putida managed to transform 19.0% of PFOA and 46.9% of PFOS
in the same time frame. During the biodegradation tests, PFHxA was recognized as the principal
biotransformation product of PFOA in the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and PFPeA, PFPxA
and PFHpA were recognized as the biotransformation products in the presence of Pseudomonas
putida. For PFOS, only two biotransformation products (PHHxA and PFHpA) were observed as a
consequence of biodegradation by both bacterial strains.