Effects of antibiotics on anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge: Performance of anaerobic digestion and structure of the microbial community

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2022-11, Vol.845, p.157384-157384, Article 157384
• Main Authors: Wu, Qingdan, Zou, Dongsheng, Zheng, Xiaochen, Liu, Fen, Li, Longcheng, Xiao, Zhihua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anaerobic digestion; Antibiotics; Biogas production; Microbial community; Sewage sludge
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157384

As a common biological engineering technology, anaerobic digestion can stabilize sewage sludge and convert the carbon compounds into renewable energy (i.e., methane). However, anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge is severely affected by antibiotics. This review summarizes the effects of different antibiotics on anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, including production of methane and volatile fatty acids (VFAs), and discusses the impact of antibiotics on biotransformation processes (solubilization, hydrolysis, acidification, acetogenesis and methanogenesis). Moreover, the effects of different antibiotics on microbial community structure (bacteria and archaea) were determined. Most of the research results showed that antibiotics at environmentally relevant concentrations can reduce biogas production mainly by inhibiting methanogenic processes, that is, methanogenic archaea activity, while a few antibiotics can improve biogas production. Moreover, the combination of multiple environmental concentrations of antibiotics inhibited the efficiency of methane production from sludge anaerobic digestion. In addition, some lab-scale pretreatment methods (e.g., ozone, ultrasonic combined ozone, zero-valent iron, Fe3+ and magnetite) can promote the performance of anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge inhibited by antibiotics. [Display omitted] •Methane production is inhibited by environmentally relevant concentrations of antibiotics.•Antibiotics affect methanogenesis involving Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina.•Advanced pretreatment improves antibiotic removal and methane production.•Pending issues involving anaerobic digestion of sludge containing antibiotics are proposed.