Contribution of microorganisms to non-extractable residue formation during biodegradation of ibuprofen in soil

Non-extractable residues (NER) formed during biodegradation of organic contaminants in soil are considered to be mainly composed of parent compounds or their primary metabolites with hazardous potential. However, in the case of biodegradable organic compounds, the soil NER may also contain microbial biomass components, for example fatty acids (FA) and amino acids (AA). After cell death, these biomolecules are subsequently incorporated into non-living soil organic matter (SOM) and are stabilised ultimately forming hardly extractable residues of biogenic origin. We investigated biodegradation of 13C6-ibuprofen, in particular the metabolic incorporation of the 13C-label into FA and AA and their fate in soil over 90 days. 13C-FA and 13C-AA amounts in the living microbial biomass fraction initially increased, then decreased over time and were continuously incorporated into the non-living SOM pool. The 13C-FA in the non-living SOM remained stable from day 59 whereas the contents of 13C-AA slightly increased until the end. After 90 days, nearly all NER were biogenic as they were made up almost completely by natural biomass compounds. The presented data demonstrated that the potential environmental risks related to the ibuprofen-derived NER are overestimated.

► Biogenic residue formation during microbial degradation of ibuprofen was studied. ► Nearly all non-extractable residues derived from ibuprofen were biogenic. ► Fatty acids and amino acids formed biogenic non-extractable residues and were stabilised in soil. ► Environmental risks of ibuprofen-derived non-extractable residues are overestimated.