Antibiotics in the Environment: Occurrence, Enhanced Removal Strategies and Future Prospects

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Environmental Chemistry
• Ecotoxicology

Background:

• Antibiotic contamination is a pervasive global issue affecting water, soil, and waste.
• This contamination poses significant risks to public health and ecosystem integrity.
• Current removal methods have inherent limitations and drawbacks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the global occurrence of antibiotic residues in various environmental media.
• To comprehensively analyze existing physical, chemical, and biological removal methods.
• To highlight the potential of integrated systems for effective antibiotic pollution remediation.

Main Methods:

• Review of global antibiotic contamination data across water, soil, and solid waste.
• Analysis of mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of physical, chemical, and biological removal techniques.
• Evaluation of integrated treatment systems, including coupled advanced oxidation processes (AOPs).

Main Results:

• Physical methods enrich but do not fully degrade antibiotics.
• Chemical methods are efficient but costly and cause secondary pollution.
• Biological methods are eco-friendly but risk spreading antibiotic resistance.

Conclusions:

• Integrated antibiotic removal systems offer superior performance over conventional methods.
• Further research is needed to optimize coupled systems and develop innovative solutions.
• Effective remediation strategies are crucial for mitigating antibiotic pollution and its associated risks.