Reacqua: A low-cost solar still system for the removal of antibiotics from contaminated effluents

Abstract

The use of antibiotics in intensive animal production and human medical treatment can result in a significant discharge of those drugs and its transformation products in faeces and urine that contaminate water bodies. The effluents produced by poultry and pig production plants are often discharged without any treatment in the environment. These effluents can contain high levels of active drugs and several by-products. The contamination of water sources with these contaminants is of emerging concern for human health and the environment. The search for treatment processes capable of removing antibiotics from water is an urgent need, especially in rural zones that lack of wastewater treatment plants. A solar still system was used for removal and degradation of a mixture of several veterinary antibiotics widely used in poultry and pig intensive production. Water samples (10 L) containing enrofloxacin, oxytetracycline, sulfadimethoxine, sulfaquinoxaline, sulfamethazine, and sulfamethoxazole within the concentration range of 20–500 mg L−1 were processed in the system. The experiment was carried out in filed conditions in duplicate (Summer and Winter). The occurrence of transformation products was also investigated to elucidate the degradation pathways. The system was able to remove antibiotics in a range from 99.73% to more than 99.99%.