Micro pollutant degradation rates, kbio (L/gSS$d), are not strongly affected by sludge-age increases from 25 to 80 days.
Long-term exposure to organic micro pollutants at typical municipal wastewater concentrations is generally not a necessary trigger for the micro pollutant degradation in biological wastewater treatment.The presence of the main substrates for microbial growth is generally neither a main trigger nor a strong inhibitor of micro pollutant degradation in biological wastewater systems,
although exceptions exist.