Removal Rule, Ecological Risk, and Full-Scale Assessment of Antibiotics in Three Organic Fertilizer Production Methods
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 149, Issue 8
Abstract
The occurrence of antibiotic residues present in organic fertilizers produced by diverse techniques is largely unknown. Large-scale evaluation and standardization are imperative to identify the concentration and risks of residual antibiotics during different treatment techniques of livestock manure (i.e., compost, carbonization, and anaerobic treatment). In this study, we assessed the concentration and ecological risks of 30 antibiotics in three types of commercial organic fertilizers by the risk quotient (RQ) method. The highest levels of residual antibiotics in the organic fertilizers produced by composting, carbonization, and anaerobic treatment were (dry weight) oxytetracycline, (dry weight) oxytetracycline, and chlortetracycline. We observed that the compost and carbon-based organic fertilizers had an RQ of less than 0.1, indicating a low risk. In contrast, liquid organic fertilizer had an RQ of 0.93, indicating a medium risk. After a comprehensive comparison and evaluation, the “carbonization + anaerobic treatment” mode was found to be more appropriate for most cases. Moreover, the preparation method of organic fertilizers needs further optimization to minimize the concentration of residual antibiotics within the range of low ecotoxicity.
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Data Availability Statement
Data, associated metadata, and calculation tools are available from the authors.
Acknowledgments
The work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51878243), and Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), China (No. 2019T120387).
Author contributions: Hailun Zhou: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, data curation, formal analysis, writing (original draft, review, and editing), visualization, and validation. Jiashun Cao: methodology, investigation, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, review, project administration, and validation. Jingyang Luo: conceptualization, methodology, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, review and editing, supervision, and visualization. Runze Xu: review and editing, data curation, and methodology. Boming Fu: methodology.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 149 • Issue 8 • August 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 5, 2022
Accepted: Mar 4, 2023
Published online: May 24, 2023
Published in print: Aug 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Oct 24, 2023
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