Mechanistic insights into Fe3O4-modified biochar relieving inhibition from erythromycin on anaerobic digestion

Zengshuai Zhang; Chunxing Li; Guan Wang; Xiaoyong Yang; Yanxiang Zhang; Ruming Wang; Irini Angelidaki; Hengfeng Miao

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118459

Mechanistic insights into Fe₃O₄-modified biochar relieving inhibition from erythromycin on anaerobic digestion

J Environ Manage. 2023 Oct 15:344:118459. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118459. Epub 2023 Jul 1.

Authors

Zengshuai Zhang¹, Chunxing Li², Guan Wang³, Xiaoyong Yang⁴, Yanxiang Zhang⁴, Ruming Wang⁵, Irini Angelidaki⁶, Hengfeng Miao¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China. Electronic address: wflqlcx@163.com.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800, Lyngby, Denmark.
⁴ School of Environmental and Material Engineering, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, China.
⁵ Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recovery, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800, Lyngby, Denmark.

PMID: 37399623
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118459

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of antibiotic manufacturing wastewater to degrade residual antibiotics and produce mixture of combustible gases has been investigated actively in the past decades. However, detrimental effect of residual antibiotic to microbial activities is commonly faced in AD process, leading to the reduction of treatment efficiency and energy recovery. Herein, the present study systematically evaluated the detoxification effect and mechanism of Fe₃O₄-modified biochar in AD of erythromycin manufacturing wastewater. Results showed that Fe₃O₄-modified biochar had stimulatory effect on AD at 0.5 g/L erythromycin existence. A maximum methane yield of 327.7 ± 8.0 mL/g COD was achieved at 3.0 g/L Fe₃O₄-modified biochar, leading to the increase of 55.7% compared to control group. Mechanistic investigation demonstrated that different levels of Fe₃O₄-modified biochar could improve methane yield via different metabolic pathways involved in specific bacteria and archaea. Low levels of Fe₃O₄-modified biochar (i.e., 0.5-1.0 g/L) led to the enrichment of Methanothermobacter sp., strengthening the hydrogenotrophic pathway. On the contrary, high levels of Fe₃O₄-modified biochar (2.0-3.0 g/L) favored the proliferation of acetogens (e.g., Lentimicrobium sp.) and methanogen (Methanosarcina sp.) and their syntrophic relations played vital role on the simulated AD performance at erythromycin stress. Additionally, the addition of Fe₃O₄-modified biochar significantly decreased the abundance of representative antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs), benefiting the reduction of environmental risk. The results of this study verified that the application of Fe₃O₄-modified biochar could be an efficient approach to detoxify erythromycin on AD system, which brings high impacts and positive implications for biological antibiotic wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Antibiotic resistant genes; Erythromycin manufacturing wastewater; Fe(3)O(4)-modified biochar; Metabolic pathway; Microbial community.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Bioreactors
Charcoal
Erythromycin* / pharmacology
Methane
Wastewater*

Substances

Wastewater
biochar
Erythromycin
Charcoal
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Methane