Michael, S. G. / Drigo, B. / Michael-Kordatou, I. / Michael, C. /  Jäger, T. / Aleer, S. C. / Schwartz, T. / Donner, E. / Fatta-Kassinos, D. (2022)

Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2022, 435,128943

Abstract

Ultrafiltration (UF) was assessed at chemical, microbiological, genetical and toxicological level and in terms of
removing specific antibiotic-related microcontaminants from urban wastewater. The UF capacity to remove
various antibiotics (clarithromycin, erythromycin, ampicillin, ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, and
tetracycline; [A0] = 100 μg L 1) was optimised with respect to the feed recirculation rate (25–50%) and feed/
transmembrane pressure (1.5–3/1.5–2.4 bar, respectively). Here, we tested the UF capacity to reduce the
cultivable bacteria (faecal coliforms, total heterotrophs, Enterococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa), enteric opportunistic
pathogens, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) load.
Moreover, the toxicity towards Daphnia magna and three plant species was investigated. Upon optimisation of
UF, the removal of antibiotics ranged from 19% for trimethoprim to 95% for clarithromycin. The concentration
of cultivable faecal coliforms in the permeate was significantly reduced compared to the feed (P < 0.001),
whereas all the bacterial species decreased by more than 3 logs. A similar pattern of reduction was observed for the ARGs (P < 0.001) and enteric opportunistic pathogens (~3–4 logs reduction). A nearly complete removal of
the antibiotics was obtained by UF followed by granular activated carbon adsorption (contact time: 90 min),
demonstrating the positive contribution of such combination to the abatement of chemical microcontaminants.

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