Research progress of environmental behavior and source control technology in the pharmaceutical industry of β-lactam antibiotics

Abstract

β-lactam antibiotics are currently the largest production of fermentable antibiotics, with wide applications in clinical medicine, livestock, and poultry breeding, among many others. The antibiotic residues, antibiotic resistance bacteria, and antibiotic resistance genes can be detected in different environmental matrices, which has potential of causing environmental risks. As the world's largest producer of β-lactam antibiotic raw materials, China produces a large amount of pharmaceutical wastewater and relevant antibiotic fermentation residue annually. It remains challenging in the industry to remove residual antibiotics and potency in pharmaceutical wastewater, as well as to realize the utilization of antibiotic fermentation residue. On the basis of consulting the literature, this review article summarizes the most recent research progress on the sources and characteristics of environmental pollutions resulted from β-lactam antibiotics, accompanied by their behaviors such as migration, adsorption, and hydrolysis in the environments. Moreover, the environmental effects arose from β-lactam antibiotics are discussed from the resistance-generation and-transmission perspective. Building upon the aforementioned, this paper focused on the technology advance in controlling β-lactam antibiotics derived from pharmaceutical wastewater and antibiotic fermentation residue. Moreover, prospects are put forward in terms of the relationships among degradation products and resistance, control targets of antibiotics and potency, as well as multi-level barrier technological system for antibiotics and resistance gene control, and harmlessness and recycling of antibiotic fermentation residue. Overall, this article will provide scientific basis for environmental management and risk control of β-lactam antibiotics in the environments.