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Evaluation of microplastic polyvinylchloride and antibiotics tetracycline co-effect on the partial nitrification process

Marine Pollution Bulletin 2020 33 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 35 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Lu Li, Dan Liu, Zhouyang Li, Kang Song, Yanjiao He

Summary

This study investigated the combined effects of PVC microplastics and the antibiotic tetracycline on nitrification — the biological process by which wastewater treatment plants remove ammonia from sewage. Both pollutants reduced nitrification efficiency, and their combined presence caused greater disruption than either alone, complicating the treatment of wastewater that contains multiple contaminants.

Polymers
Study Type Environmental

This study investigated the co-effect of microplastic polyvinylchloride and antibiotics tetracycline to partial nitrification process in treating high ammonia wastewater. The average ammonia oxidation rate of all reactors was 53.58, 56.17 and 42.08 mg·N/L·h in round 1, round 7 and round 13, respectively. The ammonia oxidation rate was reduced to 89.40%, 79.08%, 80.60%, 73.37%, 69.50%, 75.72%, 98.93% and 66.04% from 1st round of test to 13th round of test at reactor R1 to R8. The average nitrosation rate was always over 80% in all conditions tested. Tetracycline removal rate was attributed to sludge adsorption in all reactors and was increased continuously with the increment of tetracycline concentration. The nitrous oxide emission was keep decreasing from round 1 to round 13 in all reactors tested. The microbial community results revealed that with the existence of tetracycline and microplastics, the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes were reduced and Proteobacteria were increased.

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