Antibiotics removal from aquaculture effluents by ozonation: chemical and toxicity descriptors

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2022

Authors

Ana M. Gorito (Author) Other; Ana R. Lado Ribeiro (Author) FEUP; Pedro Rodrigues (Author) Other; Manuel Fernando R. Pereira (Author) FEUP; Laura Guimarães (Author) Other; Marisa M. R. Almeida (Author) FCUP; Adrián M. T. Silva (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Water Research

Vol. 218

Pages: 1-10

ISSN: 0043-1354

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 23 Citations

Scopus

Associated Projects

Healthy Waters - Healthy Waters - Identification, Elimination, Social Awareness and Education of Water Chemical and Biological Micropollutants with Health and Environmental Implications

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00W-J2B

DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.118497

Abstract (EN): Antibiotics are often applied in aquaculture to prevent fish diseases. These substances can cause disturbances on receiving waters, when not properly eliminated from the aquaculture effluents. In this work, ozone (O3) was investigated as a possible oxidizing agent to remove fishery antibiotics from aquaculture effluents: florfenicol (FF), oxytetracycline (OTC), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and trimethoprim (TMP). Batch experiments were performed using ultrapure water and aquaculture effluents spiked with a mixture of target antibiotics at relatively high concentrations (10 mg L-1 each). OTC, SMX and TMP were fully removed (< 30 min) regardless of the tested conditions, mainly by O3 direct attack. In contrast, FF was partially removed in 30 min (~ 10 and 60%, in aquaculture effluents and ultrapure water, respectively), but only in the presence of hydroxyl radicals (HO¿), the FF concentrations reaching levels below the detection limits in ultrapure water after 60 min. In the case of SDM, its degradation was highly influenced by the selected water matrix, but with removals always higher than 68%. In continuous-flow experiments applying more environmentally relevant antibiotic concentrations (100 ng L-1 each) and low O3 doses (1.5 mg L¿1), ozonation highly removed (> 98%) all tested antibiotics from aquaculture effluents with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 min, except FF (68%). Although by-products were detected in treated samples, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryotoxicity tests did not show a toxicity increase by applying this ozonation treatment. Ozonation is thus a possible solution to remove antibiotics from aquaculture effluents. Still, full-scale studies in aquaculture farms are needed, and generation of HO¿ may be favoured to readily oxidize the FF antibiotic. © 2022

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10