Effect of ciprofloxacin dosages on the performance of sponge membrane bioreactor treating hospital wastewater

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate treatment performance and membrane fouling of a lab-scale Sponge-MBR under the added Ciprofloxacin (CIP) dosages (20; 50; 100 and 200 μg L-1) treating hospital wastewater. The results showed that Sponge-MBR exhibited effective removal of COD (94-98%) during the operation period despite increment of CIP concentrations from 20 to 200 μg L-1. The applied CIP dosage of 200 μg L-1 caused an inhibition of microorganisms in sponges, i.e. significant reduction of the attached biomass and a decrease in the size of suspended flocs. Moreover, this led to deteriorating the denitrification rate to 3-12% compared to 35% at the other lower CIP dosages. Importantly, Sponge-MBR reinforced the stability of CIP removal at various added CIP dosages (permeate of below 13 μg L-1). Additionally, the fouling rate at CIP dosage of 200 μg L-1 was 30.6 times lower compared to the control condition (no added CIP dosage).

Effect of the C/N Ratio on Biodegradation of Ciprofloxacin and Denitrification from Low C/N Wastewater as Assessed by a Novel 3D-BER System

“…Worldwide, the various kinds of emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals compounds, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, beta-blockers [1] and the massive amount of NO 3 − or NO 2 − have attracted international attention for the last few decades [2]. Shown in Table 1, the antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) is the 3rd-generation fluoroquinolone group usually used in humans and veterinarians [1,3,4]. The high-proportion of CIP is not fully metabolized in livestock and humans, but instead is evacuated as a parent substance [5].…”

“…The high-proportion of CIP is not fully metabolized in livestock and humans, but instead is evacuated as a parent substance [5]. Hence, CIP can reach the environment through various pharmaceutical industries, sewage treatment plants, livestock activities, landfills, application of sewage sludge [6], manure or treated wastewater to agricultural land [3,7,8]. However, due to the potential development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance, this poses a potential threat to ecosystems and human health [2,3].…”

“…Hence, CIP can reach the environment through various pharmaceutical industries, sewage treatment plants, livestock activities, landfills, application of sewage sludge [6], manure or treated wastewater to agricultural land [3,7,8]. However, due to the potential development and dissemination of antibiotic resistance, this poses a potential threat to ecosystems and human health [2,3]. Therefore, CIP removal must be considered before being released into the environment [9].…”

“…Antibiotic CIP is readily detectable in man-made aquatic-environments (usually found in surface water at ng•L −1 to µg•L −1 levels) [7]; it occurs at high levels in the effluents of Wastewater Treatment plants (WWTPs) (up to 6.55-31 mg•L −1 ) receiving pharmaceutical wastewater and rivers polluted with industrial waste (up to 14 mg•L −1 ) [6,10,11]. During wastewater treatment, 80-90% of CIP was removed by adsorption to sludge, which stabilizes the substance [3]. Some scientific reports and data have shown that biodegradation [7] and the adsorption process [9] were the most effective elimination methods for various kinds of antibiotics in WWTPs [4].…”

Simple, fast and environmentally friendly method to determine ciprofloxacin in wastewater samples based on an impedimetric immunosensor

“…[6][7][8] Currently, there is great concern about multi-resistant bacteria occurring in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), since these units were not designed to remove ECs and provide an environment that is favorable for microorganism multiplication. 1,2,6,[9][10][11][12] It is known from the literature 2,13-17 that pharmaceutical compounds may be partially degraded (producing more toxic sub-products) or may remain unchanged during conventional treatment in WWTPs and then be released into water bodies. Within this perspective, ciprooxacin (CIP) has received great attention owing to its multi-resistant bacteria effect.…”