The supplementation of agricultural soils with dewatered sewage sludge represents
a technical solution not only to the disposal of the large quantities of biosolids generated
daily, but also a potential means of increasing soil fertility and productivity. However, the
presence of organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in
biosolids limits their application to agricultural soils. The application of Phanerochaete
chrysosporium, its lignocelluloytic cell-free extract, a commercial preparation of the laccase
enzyme for the enhanced removal of three PAHs (naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene)
at two different concentrations (1 and 10 mg g− 1 biosolids) from a biosolid sample was
assessed in terms of both PAH degradation and their impact on the microbial community of
the biosolids. The addition of P. chrysosporium biomass, a commercial laccase