Title : Efficient removal of antibiotics from water using a highly crosslinked metal-alginate system; A novel strategy to fight against antimicrobial resistance
Abstract:
ATBs are substances designed to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria on or within the body. This makes ATBs essential substances to treat infectious diseases caused by bacteria. The discovery of antibiotics (ATBs) marked one of the greatest medical achievements in history, saving countless lives and supporting agricultural productivity worldwide. However, ATB misuse and excessive overuse especially in the disposal of ATBs in different environments have driven the rapid emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (fig.1). The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that AMR is a global public health crisis, and if no action is taken to tackle its spread, by 2050 it will result in the death of millions of lives and trillions of economic losses. With virtually no new ATBs developed in this new millennia, developing and identifying novel strategies to extend the lifespan of the existing ATBs has become a priority.
Several techniques have been implemented for the removal of residual ATBs from environmental media such as wastewater, however, existing approaches face different challenges, highlighting the need for an efficient, cost-effective, and scalable solution to fight against AMR.
This study designed a novel approach for the specific removal of ATB residues from water via a novel solid-state, eco-friendly crosslinking method of metal-ALG. ALG is crosslinked with several multivalent cations such as Fe+3 and Zn+2. Different tests were conducted such as FT-IR, SEM-EDS, and ICP-MS to understand the characteristics of the metal-ALGs system. Metal-ALGs showed superiority over other ALG-based adsorbents in terms of ease of production and ATB removal capacities. Fe-ALG and Zn-ALG manifested very high removal capacities towards ciprofloxacin from water, with maximum removal capacities of 356.5 mg/g and 690 mg/g, respectively (fig. 2 A&B). Kinetics modeling showed that chemisorption was dominant, supporting the hypothesis of ATB removal by chemical complexation with metal nodes of metal-ALG particles. Three metal-alginate regeneration cycles were successfully performed without any loss of removal capacities. The microbiological assay showed a significant reduction of antibacterial activities after the ATBs removal from water.
This innovative metal-ALG system offers a promising solution to fight against the emergence and spreading of AMR in aquatic environments.
