Continuous flow electrosorption-microbial fuel cell system for efficient removal of oxytetracycline without external electrical supply

Wenjun Zhao; Jiao Qu; Yangjian Zhou; Jianchen Zhao; Yong Feng; Cuicui Guo; Ying Lu; Yahui Zhao; Willie J G M Peijnenburg; Ya-Nan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121751

Continuous flow electrosorption-microbial fuel cell system for efficient removal of oxytetracycline without external electrical supply

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Oct:290:121751. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121751. Epub 2019 Jul 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China.
² Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands; National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Center for Safety of Substances and Products, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
³ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, School of Environment, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130117, China. Electronic address: zhangyn912@nenu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31301571
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121751

Abstract

The removal of antibiotics from wastewater has attracted much attention. In this research, an intimately coupled autarkical electrosorption (ES)-microbial fuel cell (MFC) system was developed for real-time removal of the antibiotic oxytetracycline (OTC) from wastewater. The removal efficiency was founded to be up to 98.8% at an OTC concentration of 2 mg/L with 3 g/L sodium acetate (NaAC) as co-substrate and 3 MFCs as power supply. The removal efficiencies increased in the ES unit and decreased in the MFC unit with increasing treating time. The adsorption of OTC on activated carbon fibers (ACFs) in the ES unit proceeds via chemical adsorption resulting from electrostatic attraction and cation exchange. The OTC degradation pathways in the MFC unit were proposed by identifying the intermediates with HPLC-MS/MS. The ACFs in the ES unit were proven to be recyclable and the coupled ES-MFC system is applicable for the removal of antibiotics from wastewater.

Keywords: Adsorption mechanism; Continuous flow; Degradation pathways; ES-MFC system; Oxytetracycline.

MeSH terms

Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Electricity
Oxytetracycline*
Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Wastewater

Substances

Waste Water
Oxytetracycline