Effect of Lincomycin and Three Macrolide Antibiotics on Anaerobic Digestion

Abstract:

Lincomycin and three macrolide antibiotics （erythromycin， spiramycin， azithromycin） are widely used in medical， livestock and poultry industries， and distributed to the environment through the discharge， treatment and disposal of pharmaceutical wastewater， livestock wastewater and municipal sludge. Anaerobic digestion is a common method to effectively treat antibiotic wastewater. In view of the concentration distribution of these antibiotics in typical wastewater and their effects on anaerobic digestion and metabolism， the response characteristics of anaerobic digestion to these four antibiotics were summarized. The results show that lincomycin and three macrolide antibiotics can promote the anaerobic digestion of methane at low concentrations but inhibit the methane production at high concentrations. The inhibition effect is mainly caused by the accumulation of volatile fatty acids（VFAs） and the decreased activities of some VFA-oxidizing bacteria and methanogens. Finally， the anaerobic metabolic biodegradation pathway of the antibiotics and the method of relieving the antibiotics caused inhibition were discussed.