Research Article Open Access

Performance Evaluation of Activated Sludge Process for Treating Pharmaceutical Wastewater Contaminated With Β-Lactam Antibiotics

Abstract

The aim of this work is to evaluate and assess the performance of an activated sludge process for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater contaminated with β-lactam antibiotics. The pharmaceutical plant produces β-lactam antibiotic derivatives (syrup, tablets and capsules). The wastewater was highly contaminated with high concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants as presented by COD (980 mg/L), BOD (585 mg/L) and TSS (86). Also, the wastewater was contaminated with antibiotic residues (Amoxicillin, Ampicillin and Dicloxacillin at concentrations of 99.4, 70.6, and 119.4 mg/L, respectively). Treatment of wastewater using an activated sludge process indicated that the β-lactam antibiotic constituents were degraded up to 98%. In addition, the removal rates of COD and BOD reached 88.4% and 94.8%, respectively. In conclusion the β-lactam wastewater can be treated successfully using an activated sludge process without any adverse effect on its performance.