Phytoremediation Potential ofMyriophyllum aquaticumandPistia stratiotesto Modify Antibiotic Growth Promoters, Tetracycline, and Oxytetracycline, in Aqueous Wastewater Systems

Abstract

Antibiotics are frequently used in the United States as feed efficiency promoters and medicines for livestock that is destined for human consumption. These antibiotics are released into the environment through the runoff and wastewater streams from animal feedlots and land applications of manure. The exposure of microorganisms to these antibiotics has reportedly resulted in the development of resistant species of microorganisms, which in turn can lead to human health hazards. Phytoremediation of these antibiotics can be a useful tool for countering this problem. Aquatic plants, Myriophyllum aquaticum (parrot feather) and Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce), were used for studying phytoremediation of tetracycline (TC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) from aqueous media. TC and OTC are two of the most commonly used tetracyclines in veterinary medicine. M. aquaticum and P. stratiotes gave high antibiotic modification rates of both antibiotics. Kinetic analyses dismiss direct enzyme catalysis; the modification rates decreased with increasing OTC concentrations. Sterile, cell-free root exudates (filtered through 0.2 microm membranes) from both species also exhibited comparable antibiotic modification rates. The involvement of root-secreted metabolites in antibiotic modification is suggested. The changes in the UV absorbance spectra of OTC during treatment with the root exudates confirmed the modification.

An Integrated Electrochemical-Phytoremediation Process for the Treatment of Industrial Wastewater

“…(Verdc) has shown a great potential to remove contaminants such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), perchlorate, pesticides, and antibiotics from water solutions and industrial wastewater (Susarla et al 1999;Bhadra et al 1999;Gao et al 2000a, b;Turgut and Fomin 2002;Gujarathi et al 2005;Turgut 2005). …”

Phosphorus Removal and Recovery from Digestate after Biogas Production

“…But, algae and aquatic plants offer a realistic time frame for the nutrient recovery from eutrophic water and other contaminated waters rather than the P removal from the soils, and also require less than one-tenth of the area to recover phosphorus compared to terrestrial crops [116]. The characteristic advantages of the system has made the algal ponds and macrophyte wetlands more popular for environmental applications including herbicides [117], heavy metals [118] and antibiotics [119] removal, and is already been explored widely for varieties of wastewater types including animal manure [120]. Anaerobic treatment of manure results in digestate which requires further treatment before discharge, especially for the removal of P and N. Growing microalgae or macrophytes on the anaerobic effluent could be a commendable option considering the valuable byproducts and process efficiency.…”

Phytoremediation of Eutrophic Waters

“…The plants having high growth rates provide a good estimation of their nutrient removal capacity form eutrophic waters (Agunbiade et al 2009 ). Plants with high bioproductivity are preferred for phytoremediation systems as they can utilize more nutrients to support rapid plant growth (Liao and Chang 2004 ;Gujarathi et al 2005 ;Malik 2007 ).…”