Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6): 978-985.doi: 10.11934/j.issn.1673-4831.2016.06.017

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Characteristics of Degradation Tetracyclines and Sulfonamides During Wastewater Treating Processes in an Intensive Swine Farm

JIN Hong-mei1,2,3, HUANG Hong-ying1,2, GUAN Yong-xiang4, XU Cai-yun5, CHANG Zhi-zhou1,2, QIAN Yu-ting1,2   

  1. 1. Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Jiangsu Agricultural Waste Treatment and Recycle Engineering Research Center, Nanjing 210014, China;
    2. East China Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Development and Utilization of Rural Renewable Energy, Ministry of Agriculture/Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment in Downstream of Yangtze Plain, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing 210014, China;
    3. Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Safety of Jiangsu Province/State Key Laboratory of Breeding Base, Nanjing 210014, China;
    4. Jiangsu Province Station of Farmland Quality and Agricultural Environment Protection, Nanjing 210036, China;
    5. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
  • Online:2016-11-25 Published:2016-11-30

Abstract:

Antibiotics and their metabolites are emerging contaminants posing a potential worldwide human health risk. Intensive animal husbandry is believed to be a major contributor to the increasing environmental burden of antibiotics. As to the antibiotics in animal manure in China, little information is available regarding characteristics of the degradation of antibiotics during wastewater treating processes in intensive animal husbandry. The aim of this study was to investigate concentrations of tetracyclines (TCs) and sulfonamides (SAs) types of antibiotics in wastewater and to explore their degradation characteristics during the processes of treating the wastewater in an intensive swine farm typical of the region of South Jiangsu in winter and summer. Results show that in wastewater treatment using the prevailing biogas digesters, as the incoming wastewater was high in pollutant concentration,and its hydraulic retention time was short, the treatment was only able to remove 12.9%-69.3%, 20.4%-60.9%, 25.3%-55.0%, 13.8%-18.2%, 46.8%-61.8% and 18.1%-48.7%, of the oxytetracycline (OTC), chlorotetracycline (CTC), doxycycline (DOX), sulfadiazine (SD), sulfadimidine (SM) and sulfachlorpyridazine (SCP) in the wastewater, respectively. Besides, residual concentrations of TCs and SAs in the treated wastewater were much higher in winter than in summer, especially that of CTC, SD and SCP being 0.887, 0.492 and 10.160 μg·L-1, respectively, on average. Direct discharge of such wastewater from digesters into farm fields would pose high risks to biological safety. Post-treatment of the biogas slurry through a sedimentation tank and/or a pond with hydrophyte pond, had some positive effects on removals of TCs an SAs, especially in summer, when the residual removal rate could reach up to over 90%. So it is a critical measure to dehazardize biogas slurry for its safe use in farmlands. All the findings in this study demonstrate that the technology combining anaerobic and aerobic bio-treatment processes in removing antibiotics, SAs in particular, in wastewater from animal farms is a major and effective one.

Key words: intensive swine farm, wastewater treatment, antibiotics

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