A critical review on retaining antibiotics in liquid digestate: Potential risk and removal technologies

Substantial levels of antibiotics remain in liquid digestate, posing a significant threat to human safety and the environ-ment. A comprehensive assessment of residual antibiotics in liquid digestate and related removal technologies is required. To this end, this review first evaluates the potential risks of the residual antibiotics in liquid digestate by describing various anaerobic digestion processes and their half-lives in the environment. Next, emerging technologies for removing antibiotics in liquid digestate are summarized and discussed, including membrane separation, adsorp-tion, and advanced oxidation processes. Finally, this study comprehensively and critically discusses these emerging technologies' prospects and challenges, including techno-economic feasibility and environmental impacts.

Automated summary

This review evaluates the risks of residual antibiotics in liquid digestate and summarizes emerging technologies for removal. These technologies include membrane separation, adsorption, and advanced oxidation processes. The prospects and challenges of these technologies are comprehensively discussed.