Fungal biodegradation and multi-level toxicity assessment of vinasse from distillation of winemaking by-products Joana M.C. Fernandes, Rose Marie O.F. Sousa, Irene Fraga, Ana Sampaio, Carla Amaral, Rui M.F. Bezerra, Albino A. Dias * CITAB - Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, UTAD e Universidade de Tr as-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801, Vila Real, Portugal highlights  White-rot fungi present high variability in respect to vinasse pollution abatement.  Threefold fungal biomass increase due to degradation and uptake of vinasse compounds.  Phenolics, TOC and vinasse color were significantly reduced throughout P. rufa biodegradation.  Acute toxicity of treated vinasse decreased for A. fischeri and D. magna (75%).  P. rufa almost completely eliminated vinasse phytotoxicity. article info Article history: Received 1 April 2019 Received in revised form 5 August 2019 Accepted 9 August 2019 Available online 10 August 2019 Handling Editor: Hyunook Kim Keywords: Bioremediation Toxicity assessment Vinasse Winemaking by-products White-rot fungi abstract The wastewaters from distilleries of winemaking by-products, a scarcely studied type of vinasse, were treated by white-rot fungal strains from species Irpex lacteus, Ganoderma resinaceum, Trametes versicolor, Phlebia rufa and Bjerkandera adusta. The main objectives of this study were to evaluate fungal perfor- mance during vinasse biodegradation, their enzyme patterns and ecotoxicity evolution throughout treatment. Despite all strains were able to promote strong (>80%) dephenolization and reduction of total organic carbon (TOC), P. rufa was less affected by vinasse toxicity and exhibit better decolorization. In batch cultures at 28  C and pH 4.0, the first phase of P. rufa biodegradation kinetics was characterized by strong metabolic activity with simultaneous depletion of TOC, phenolics and sugars. The main events of second phase are the increase of peroxidases production after the peak of laccase activity, and strong color removal. At the end of treatment, it was observed highly significant (p < 0.001) abatement of pollution parameters (83e100% removal). Since water reclamation and reuse for e.g. crop irrigation is a priority issue, vinasse ecotoxicity was assessed with bioindicators representing three different phylo- genetic and trophic levels: a marine bacterium (Aliivibrio fischeri), a freshwater microcrustacean (Daphnia magna) and a dicotyledonous macrophyte (Lepidium sativum). It was observed significant (p < 0.05) reduction of initial vinasse toxicity, as evaluated by these bioindicators, deserving special mention an almost complete phytotoxicity elimination. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Wine production is an agro-industrial activity that requires a considerable amount of resources such as fertilizers, organic amendments and also water. Besides wine, this activity also gen- erates huge amounts of by-products and wastewaters, which has triggered an increased interest in the economic and environmental fields (Zacharof, 2017). A usual valorization of winemaking by- products (primarily grape marc and wine lees), rejected wine, or fermented grape juice is the extraction of ethanol or flavor com- pounds by distillation. This process generates a distillery waste- water rich in organic compounds including tartrates and tartaric acid (Salgado et al., 2010) known as “vinasse”. Due to economic viability constraints (Braga et al., 2002), removal of tartrates and tartaric acid requires a large amount of by-products for distillation (in the order of thousand tons per year), a quantity that exceeds the * Corresponding author. E-mail address: jdias@utad.pt (A.A. Dias). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Chemosphere journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124572 0045-6535/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chemosphere 238 (2020) 124572