Improvement of Antibiotic Removal from Wastewater by Chemical Coagulation Combined Adsorption

High-concentration antibiotic wastewater from pharmaceutical sewage plants was employed for this study on effectively blocking the transmission pathway of antibiotics and reduce their environmental impact. The proposed strategy combined chemical coagulation and adsorption to remove five commonly overlooked but significant antibiotics. In a controlled artificial wastewater environment, the antibiotic removal efficiency was significantly enhanced to 97.6%, with 55%-70% increase compared to the case of solely relying on chemical coagulation. Moreover, chemical coagulation achieved a recovery efficiency of over 99% for powdered adsorbents, reducing suspended solids in treated water to 2.0 mg·L^-1 and minimizing the residual impact of the adsorbents. This study demonstrates that the removal capacity for target antibiotics was highest in powdered activated carbon, followed by kaolin and bentonite. These findings are crucial for addressing the practical challenges of ineffective antibiotic removal by conventional wastewater treatment methods and expanding their applicability to remove emerging organic pollutants.