Abstract

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are important components of activated sludge and it plays an important role in removing pollutants. The interaction between EPS and organic pollutants is still little known. In the present study, the interaction of soluble/bound EPS with acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, was investigated using the three-dimensional excitation–emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy. The fluorescence spectra of EPS revealed that there were two classes of protein-like fluorophores in soluble/bound EPS and one class of fulvic acid-like fluorophore, in addition, in bound EPS. The quenching of protein-like fluorescence by acetamiprid indicated that static quenching (at peak B) and combined quenching (at peak A) occurred simultaneously. The interaction of acetamiprid with EPS was observed to have resulted in the formation of acetamiprid-EPS complexes. The binding constants of the soluble EPS for acetamiprid were greater than those of the bound EPS, indicating the soluble EPS had stronger binding capacity for acetamiprid than the bound EPS. This study confirmed that EPS (soluble/bound) play important roles in biosorption of organic pollutants by activated sludge and also indicated that they may serve as a protective barrier against toxic organic matter, for the microorganisms.

Key words: Extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), activated sludge, fluorescence quenching, binding constant, acetamiprid.

Abbreviation

Abbreviations: EPS, Extracellular polymeric substances; EEM, excitation–emission matrix; EDTA, ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid.