Abstract
The removal of ten selected antibiotic drugs belonging to different classes (sulphonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, and tetracycline) was investigated using water-soluble proteins from the seeds of Moringa stenopetala. The surface functional groups of water-soluble protein powder before and after removal of antibiotics were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Processing parameters that could affect the removal efficiency, such as initial analyte concentration, protein dosage, and pH were studied. An optimized method was applied to a real wastewater sample collected from Daspoort Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) located in Pretoria, South Africa. Under optimal conditions, the results indicated good agreement between the efficiency of water-soluble proteins to remove antibiotics from the real wastewater sample and from the synthetic wastewater sample prepared in the laboratory using standard solutions with known concentrations. The percentage of removal under optimum conditions (protein dosage of 40 mg, initial analyte concentration of 0.1 mg L−1, and pH 7) was between 85.2 ± 0.01% and 96.3 ± 0.03% for standard mixture solution and from 72.4 ± 0.32% to 92.5 ± 0.84% and 70.4 ± 0.82% to 91.5 ± 0.71% for the real wastewater (effluent and influent) sample.
Highlights
Antibiotics have saved countless lives since their discovery, and large quantities of these drugs are widely administered and used as antimicrobial drugs throughout the world
The objective of this study was to investigate the removal of multi-class antibiotic drugs, such as sulphonamides, fluoroquinolones, macrolides, and tetracycline, from wastewater by using water-soluble proteins extracted from Moringa stenopetala seeds
The water-soluble protein powder extracted from the Moringa stenopetala seeds was characterized and the removal behavior was studied for ten selected antibiotic drugs using a known concentration of standard solution mixture prepared in the laboratory
Summary
Antibiotics have saved countless lives since their discovery, and large quantities of these drugs are widely administered and used as antimicrobial drugs throughout the world. Excessive usage of antibiotics increases the amount of antibiotic residue discharged into the environment. The reason for the increase in antibiotic concentration levels in the aquatic environment is that they are not completely metabolized in the human/animal body, but rather excreted via urine, animal manure, and/or feces. They are excreted as the parent compounds, metabolites, or water-soluble conjugate compounds and are released into the aquatic environment [1,4]. Other sources of antibiotic drugs in the environment include agricultural runoff and the disposal of unused antibiotic drugs from manufacturing industries [5]. As has been reported by different studies, antibiotic drugs have been detected in the influents and effluents of wastewater treatment plants, hospital wastewater, industrial effluent, surface water, groundwater, drinking water, and sediments [1,6,7,8,9]
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