Eichhornia crassipes root biomass to reduce antibiotic resistance dissemination and enhance biogas production of anaerobic membrane bioreactor

ABSTRACT

To address the inadequate removal of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment plants, this study investigated the impact of bioaugmentation with dried Eichhornia crassipes roots on removal of antibiotics sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline and erythromycin from pharmaceutical wastewater while optimizing potential for reclaiming value through biogas production, utilizing an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). Three sets of AnMBRs were set up for the experiment, C1 (inoculum), C2 (inoculum + antibiotics) and EC (inoculum + antibiotics + E. crassipes). The results showed that E. crassipes mitigated some of the toxic effects of antibiotics on the microbial community and prevented negative impact on the archaeal community, and significantly increased average biogas production (by 37% compared to control without antibiotics and 42% compared to control with antibiotics) as well as antibiotics removal. Furthermore, bioaugmented reactor showed significant reduction of erythromycin (97%) and tetracycline (83%) concentrations in effluent. Utilization of E. crassipes root offers a simple yet powerful tool for preventing the emergence of antimicrobial resistance and dissemination of such pollutants into the environment.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Anaerobic membrane bioreactors
• water hyacinth
• wastewater
• biosorption
• bioaugmentation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are included in this article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support from TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) (project number 116Y096) and the Department of Scientific Research Project of Istanbul Technical University (project number 41499); Istanbul Technical University; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.