Ability of anaerobic digestion to remove antibiotics contained in swine manure

Antibiotics in animal manure, which are used to treat animal diseases, have become a major concern due to human and ecological health risks. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is viable for treating manure because it generates energy. However, the ability of AD to completely eliminate antibiotics remains unclear. Therefore, the AD ability of swine manure containing 10 antibiotics was investigated. The results showed that the thresholds of complete antibiotic reduction were 25, 50, 50, 75, 75, and 75 mg (kg TS)(-1) for SD, CIP, SQ, SAR, DIF, and SA, respectively. At their thresholds, SD, CIP, and SA could increase methane production, but the opposite results were obtained for SQ, SAR, and DIF. The modified Gompertz model showed good application for AD with different antibiotic loads. Antibiotic reduction and methane production are strongly correlated for the antibiotics of SAR and ENR, so their reduction performance can be inferred simply by determining their methane production. (C) 2021 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that anaerobic digestion can completely eliminate certain antibiotics in swine manure under certain conditions, while the presence of certain antibiotics can also affect methane production. The modified Gompertz model, applicable to different antibiotic loads, performed well and showed a strong correlation between antibiotic reduction and methane production for certain antibiotics.