Effect of sulfamethazine on anaerobic digestion of manure mediated by biochar

Abstract

Antibiotic contamination from animal production and wastewater treatment process will release antibiotic resistant genes to the environment and potentially threaten human health. Meanwhile, the residual antibiotic in manure could have inactive impacts on anaerobic digestion (AD). This study explores the effect of sulfamethazine on manure AD mediated by biochar. The results show that biochar weakens the adverse effects of sulfamethazine on AD by adsorption sulfamethazine during the initial stage (0–3 days) of AD and promoting the growth of hydrolytic bacteria (especially Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes) and methanogens (especially Methanothrix and Methanosarcina). Besides, the presence of biochar improves the biogas production capacity of AD and promotes microbial diversity and community richness. Thus, the addition of biochar greatly reduces sulfamethazine and is testified to be a desirable strategy to mitigate the inhibition of sulfamethazine on AD.