Exogenous organic carbon as an artificial enhancement method to assist the algal antibiotic treatment system

The study established an integrated view to evaluate the effect of exogenous organic carbon (EOC) on removal rate of cefradine and amoxicillin by Microcystis aeruginosa. Meanwhile, the toxicity control assessment of effluents was also investigated on the rotifer (Brachionus calyciflorus) during the algal treatment. The results indicated that glucose and NaAc could be consumed as EOC which enhanced the treatment efficiency of cefradine from 27.11% to 85.19% and amoxicillin from 14.70% to 58.20%, while the toxicity of the reaction products could be controlled at a similar level as the antibiotic itself. Moreover the algal treatment and nutrition regulation could also be applied for artificial wastewater and significantly promote the removal rate with respective increases of 47.04% and 48.75% for cefradine and amoxicillin, respectively. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.