Simultaneous removal of typical antibiotics and nitrogen by SWIS assisted by iron carbon micro-electrolysis

Abstract

In this study, a combination of subsurface wastewater infiltration system (SWIS) with iron carbon micro-electrolysis (namely ICMESWIS) was used to enhance the simultaneous removal of nitrogen and typical antibiotics (SMX, OTC and HCl-Lev was selected). The results indicated that assisted by 10 % dopant amount of ICME, SMX, OTC, Lev-HCl, NH4+-N, NO3--N and NO2--N removal rates increased by 26.6 %, 19.7 %, 10.2 %, 33.7 %, 28.5 % and 19.3 %, respectively via ICMESWIS than SWIS. The higher TFe release rate, organic matter content and richer microbial populations encouraged ICMESWIS to resist the impact of antibiotics. High-throughput sequencing revealed that electrochemical effect enhanced the microbial community structure, which was the main pathway for nitrogen and antibiotics removal. The total proportions of nitrogen and antibiotics removal relating bacteria were 18.38 % and 46.67 %, 5.49 % and 4.72 % higher than those of SWIS, respectively. Anammox became an additional N removal way in ICMESWIS.