Fungos filamentosos como agentes biorremediadores de efluentes industriais: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

The industrial sector plays a crucial role in driving global economic growth by creating employment opportunities, generating local income, and significantly contributing to each coun-try's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, the manufacturing industry is responsible for producing a substantial amount of polluting effluents, which can harm the environment and compromise the life quality of future generations if not appropriately treated. Various methods, including physical, chemical, and biological processes, have been employed in the treatment of industrial effluents. Filamentous fungi, in particular, have garnered attention as effective biore-mediation agents due to their ability to produce enzymes capable of degrading recalcitrant com-pounds and adsorb different pollutant molecules. This study aimed to assess the collective body of research on using white and brown rot fungi to remove phenolic compounds from industrial ef-fluents. The research employed a systematic review, incorporating scientometric analysis, with the primary goal of constructing a comprehensive overview of the evolution of this technology over time. The analysis also aimed to scrutinize its geographical distribution and identify gaps and trends within these research inquiries. Data for the study were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) database using specific search terms (("white rot fung*" OR "brown rot fung*") AND (phenol* OR phenoloxidase OR "polyphenol oxidase*") AND (wastewater OR effluent* OR bioremediation)). The time frame considered ranged from 1945 to 2023, resulting in 464 publications. After refinement, 109 studies were selected for further analysis, focusing on using filamentous fungi in the bioremediation of industrial effluents. The findings revealed that white rot fungi were the most studied in industrial effluent remediation processes, accounting for 96.3% of the studies assessed, followed by brown rot fungi at 2.7%. Filamentous fungi demonstrate significant poten-tial for treating industrial effluents due to their high capacity to degrade phenolic compounds, es-pecially in wastewater from olive mills, paper production industries, and distilleries. Among the investigated species, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pleurotus ostreatus, Trametes versicolor, and Len-tinula edodes have been the most extensively researched for this application. Notably, cultures with free cells (64.15%) stood out compared to cultures with immobilized cells, and cultures with isolated fungi surpassed microbial consortia. Geographically, Italy, Spain, Greece, India, and Bra-zil emerged as the most prominent countries in publications related to this area during the evalu-ated period.