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Effect of Amoxicillin on Nitrogen Oxidation Bacteria Present in Activated Sludge: Respirometry Investigation

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Abstract

Amoxicillin (AMX) is one of the most widely used antibiotics in the world and its presence in wastewater is of great concern for its potential to bacteria selection. However, there is still a gap about the toxicity effect of AMX in nitrifier biomass from activated sludge (AS). This study is based on the implementation of respirometric tests in batches in order to evaluate the toxic effluent toxicity in the nitrification process of AS. The tests were conducted by comparing respiration rates with effluent containing ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) and nitrite nitrogen (NO2−-N) called “reference” and batches containing toxic effluent doped with different concentrations of AMX here called “process.” Results with effluent containing concentrations greater than 100 mg L−1 showed that AMX negatively affected the specific growth rate (μm) of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) (from 0.50 d−1 to 0.13 d−1) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) (from 0.64 d−1 to 0.15 d−1). Although there is no total inhibition of populations, these μm values are limiting for a feasible development of the nitrification process in AS systems. The removal of AMX decreased from 99 to 37% (liquid phase) when the concentration of AMX increased (20 mg L−1 to 200 mg L−1). A decrease in the microbial community AOB and NOB was observed through fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), corroborating the results of respirometry. In summary, the study showed that the inhibition of the AS nitrification process occurs in the presence of high concentrations of AMX and the most susceptible group are the NOB.

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Abbreviations

µm :

Maximum specific growth constant for nitrifying bacteria (days)

AOB:

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria

bn :

Constant decay for the nitrifying organisms (adopted: 0.04 × 1.03(t−20))

fn :

Fraction of AS that remains an endogenous residue

Kn :

Monod half-saturation constants (mg L−1)

Nc :

Nitrification capacity (mg L−1)

Nl :

Nitrogen concentration in excess sludge (mg L−1)

NOB:

Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria

OUR:

Oxygen uptake rate (mgO2 L−1 h−1)

OURend :

Oxygen uptake rate to endogenous respiration (mgO2 L−1 h−1)

OURexo :

Oxygen uptake rate to exogenous respiration (mgO2 L−1 h−1)

OURn :

Oxygen uptake rate to nitrogen compounds (mgO2 L−1 h−1)

Qeff :

Effluent flow (L d−1)

Qinf :

Influent flow (L d−1)

Rh :

Hydraulic retention time (days)

rn :

Constant specific substrate utilization (mgN mgVSS−1 d−1)

Rs :

Sludge age (days)

S:

Substrate ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) or nitrite nitrogen (NO2−-N) (mg L−1)

TKN:

Total kjeldahl nitrogen (mg L−1)

TKNeff :

TKN concentration in the effluent (mg L−1)

TKNinf :

TKN concentration in the influent (mg L−1)

Vr :

Reactor volume (L)

Xn :

Concentration of active nitrifying organisms in volatile biomass (mgVSS L−1)

Xv :

Concentration of VSS in the aeration tank (mg L−1)

Yn :

Cell yield coefficient for nitrifying bacteria (adopted: 0.1 kgVSS kgN−1

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Basic Sanitation Company of the State of São Paulo-SABESP for authorizing the use of activated sludge from WWTP-Parque Andreese to carry out the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Central of Engineering, Modeling and Applied Social Sciences, Federal University of ABC, Av. dos Estados, 5.001, Santo André - SP, 09210-580, Brazil

    Júlia Kersul Faria, Ana Carolina Santana Conceição, Márcio Yukihiro Kohatsu, Alessandra Borges Okamoto, Lúcia Helena Coelho, Eduardo Lucas Subtil & Rodrigo de Freitas Bueno

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Contributions

JKF: Investigation, Writing—original draft. ACSC: Investigation, Writing—original draft. MYK: Investigation, Writing—original draft. ABO: Methodology, Writing—review & editing. LHC: Supervision, Methodology. ELS: Supervision, Methodology. RFB: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing—review & editing. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest in the published information.

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Correspondence to Rodrigo de Freitas Bueno.

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Faria, J.K., Conceição, A.C.S., Kohatsu, M.Y. et al. Effect of Amoxicillin on Nitrogen Oxidation Bacteria Present in Activated Sludge: Respirometry Investigation. Curr Microbiol 78, 167–178 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-020-02287-7

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