Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant
Extensive antibiotic use in swine production contaminates manure and wastewater with antibiotics. Discharging this waste into the environment, even after treatment, potentially fuels the spread of antibiotic resistance. This study investigated a full-scale swine wastewater treatment plant that combi...
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2025-05-01
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| author | Taeyoung Cha Min-Sang Kim Yuhoon Hwang Eun Sook Jeong Hongmok Jo Si-Kyung Cho |
| author_facet | Taeyoung Cha Min-Sang Kim Yuhoon Hwang Eun Sook Jeong Hongmok Jo Si-Kyung Cho |
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| description | Extensive antibiotic use in swine production contaminates manure and wastewater with antibiotics. Discharging this waste into the environment, even after treatment, potentially fuels the spread of antibiotic resistance. This study investigated a full-scale swine wastewater treatment plant that combines coagulation–sedimentation, sand filtration, ozonation, activated carbon filtration, and a deaeration process. At each stage of this process, samples were collected and analyzed to determine their water quality parameters, antibiotic concentrations, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). The experimental results showed coagulation–sedimentation effectively removed suspended solids (92.2%) and total phosphorus (96.9%). Ozonation significantly reduced antibiotic levels, including sulfamethazine by over 99.9%, although ARGs such as <i>tet</i>M, <i>sul</i>1, and <i>sul</i>2 were only removed at levels up to 95.9%. Interestingly, partial rebounds of sulfamethazine (438.9 μg/L) and marbofloxacin (0.40 μg/L) appeared in the final effluent, suggesting that desorption or operational factors (e.g., hydraulic fluctuation, filter media saturation, and pH) may affect the treatment process. In addition, strong correlations emerged between the levels of suspended solids and those of certain antibiotics (lincomycin, tiamulin), indicating particle-mediated sorption as a key mechanism. Even though ozonation and coagulation–sedimentation were found to contribute to the substantial removal of pollutants, the observed rebounds and residual ARGs highlight the need for optimized operational strategies and multi-barrier approaches to fully mitigate antibiotic contamination and inhibit the proliferation of resistant bacteria in swine wastewater. |
| format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj-art-1dc3d56e530a4c2d833a36bb39d6c8442025-08-20T02:30:46ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-05-01159515810.3390/app15095158Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment PlantTaeyoung Cha0Min-Sang Kim1Yuhoon Hwang2Eun Sook Jeong3Hongmok Jo4Si-Kyung Cho5Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Dongguk University, 32 Dongguk-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10326, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Biological and Environmental Science, Dongguk University, 32 Dongguk-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10326, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul 01811, Republic of KoreaInstitute of Environmental Technology, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul 01811, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Biological and Environmental Science, Dongguk University, 32 Dongguk-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10326, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Biological and Environmental Science, Dongguk University, 32 Dongguk-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10326, Republic of KoreaExtensive antibiotic use in swine production contaminates manure and wastewater with antibiotics. Discharging this waste into the environment, even after treatment, potentially fuels the spread of antibiotic resistance. This study investigated a full-scale swine wastewater treatment plant that combines coagulation–sedimentation, sand filtration, ozonation, activated carbon filtration, and a deaeration process. At each stage of this process, samples were collected and analyzed to determine their water quality parameters, antibiotic concentrations, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). The experimental results showed coagulation–sedimentation effectively removed suspended solids (92.2%) and total phosphorus (96.9%). Ozonation significantly reduced antibiotic levels, including sulfamethazine by over 99.9%, although ARGs such as <i>tet</i>M, <i>sul</i>1, and <i>sul</i>2 were only removed at levels up to 95.9%. Interestingly, partial rebounds of sulfamethazine (438.9 μg/L) and marbofloxacin (0.40 μg/L) appeared in the final effluent, suggesting that desorption or operational factors (e.g., hydraulic fluctuation, filter media saturation, and pH) may affect the treatment process. In addition, strong correlations emerged between the levels of suspended solids and those of certain antibiotics (lincomycin, tiamulin), indicating particle-mediated sorption as a key mechanism. Even though ozonation and coagulation–sedimentation were found to contribute to the substantial removal of pollutants, the observed rebounds and residual ARGs highlight the need for optimized operational strategies and multi-barrier approaches to fully mitigate antibiotic contamination and inhibit the proliferation of resistant bacteria in swine wastewater.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/9/5158swine wastewaterozoneantibioticsantibiotic resistance genes |
| spellingShingle | Taeyoung Cha Min-Sang Kim Yuhoon Hwang Eun Sook Jeong Hongmok Jo Si-Kyung Cho Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant Applied Sciences swine wastewater ozone antibiotics antibiotic resistance genes |
| title | Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant |
| title_full | Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant |
| title_short | Effects of Ozone Oxidation Process on Residual Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in a Swine Wastewater Treatment Plant |
| title_sort | effects of ozone oxidation process on residual antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes in a swine wastewater treatment plant |
| topic | swine wastewater ozone antibiotics antibiotic resistance genes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/9/5158 |
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