Field investigation of antibiotic removal efficacies in different hospital wastewater treatment processes in Thailand
Issued Date
2022-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
24056650
eISSN
24056642
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85135710608
Journal Title
Emerging Contaminants
Volume
8
Start Page
329
End Page
339
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Emerging Contaminants Vol.8 (2022) , 329-339
Suggested Citation
Chiemchaisri W., Chiemchaisri C., Hamjinda N.S., Jeensalute C., Buranapakdee P., Thamlikitkul V. Field investigation of antibiotic removal efficacies in different hospital wastewater treatment processes in Thailand. Emerging Contaminants Vol.8 (2022) , 329-339. 339. doi:10.1016/j.emcon.2022.07.002 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/84746
Title
Field investigation of antibiotic removal efficacies in different hospital wastewater treatment processes in Thailand
Author's Affiliation
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
The removal efficacies of 19 antibiotics in different hospital wastewater treatment processes (WWTP) were investigated at various sizes of 60 hospitals across Thailand. The results showed slight differences in the total antibiotic removals (79–84%) among WWTP sizes. High antibiotics loading to all WWTP were amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline ampicillin, and norfloxacin, respectively. Amoxicillin and ampicillin were eliminated highly (90–99%) in every size of WWTP, while various efficacies showed for other antibiotics (0–93%). According to process comparison, activated sludge (CAS), oxidation ditch (OD), and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) systems showed similar removals of overall antibiotics (P>0.05). The attached growth systems such as submerged aerated fixed-film (SAFF) demonstrated relatively lower antibiotic removals. The natural processes such as aerated lagoon (AL), facultative pond (FP), and constructed wetland (CW) presented substantial biodegradation of some recalcitrant antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim. Post -chlorination provided additional elimination of some antibiotics such as amoxicillin and ampicillin. Finally, the top-five of antibiotics released into the water environment via discharged effluent are amoxicillin, tetracycline, ampicillin, ciprofloxacin, and imipenem, respectively, which mainly from the suspended growth systems.