Antibiotic Removal, Toxicity Reduction, and Antibiotic Resistance Development Inhibition Using Janus Electrochemical Membrane Filtration

Electrochemical membrane filtration (EMF) technology, which combines the advantages of membrane filtration and electrochemical oxidation, is an effective technology for removing micropollutants from water and wastewater. However, the investigations on antibiotic removal, toxicity reduction, and antibiotic resistance development inhibition in EMF systems are insufficient. In this study, a Janus EMF system using a Fe-Pt Janus electrochemical ceramic membrane was utilized to remove sulfadiazine (SDZ) from synthetic and real surface water. The results showed that a stable removal efficiency of SDZ (63.9%-79.3%) could be achieved with a contact time of 39 s in a 7-day continuous experiment. The toxicity assessment using Vibrio fischeri and Photobacterium phosphoreum revealed that EMF using Na2SO4, NaHCO3, or surface water solution as the matrix could stably reduce toxicity, while EMF in NaCl solution dramatically increased the permeate toxicity. The change in toxicity could be attributed to the reduction of SDZ as well as the generation of different degradation products. Furthermore, exposure experiments demonstrated that the EMF could alleviate the development of antibiotic-resistant genes revealed by three model microbiotas (activated sludge, farmland soil, and mice gut). Our results highlight that the EMF system has a great potential for antibiotic removal, toxicity reduction, and antibiotic resistance development inhibition.