Removing selected steroid hormones, biocides and pharmaceuticals from water by means of biogenic manganese oxide nanoparticles in situ at ppb levels

• Micro-pollutants were incubated with biogenic manganese oxides in situ.
• A complete removal of estrone and ethinylestradiol was observed.
• In situ incubations appears as a practical approach considering the full scale application.
• Residual organic matter in wastewater will affect the oxidation of micro-pollutants by BioMnOx.

The oxidation of organic micro-pollutants by biogenic manganese oxide nanoparticles (BioMnOx) has been studied with respect to possible implementation of BioMnOx in wastewater treatment. For this it would be prerequisite that microbial Mn2+ oxidation and BioMnOx-driven pollutant removal can occur in situ, i.e. in the same reactor as the removal. Here we present the in situ reactivity of BioMnOx produced by Pseudomonas putida towards a range of micro-pollutants at environmentally relevant concentrations (10 μg L−1). We found that in situ formed BioMnOx completely removed the steroid hormones estrone and 17-α ethinylestradiol, while only 26% removal of diclofenac was achieved. Ibuprofen, tebuconazole, carbamazepine, carbendazim, and terbutryn were not removed under in situ conditions.