A Cost-Effective, Eco-Friendly and Functional Wastewater Pre-Treatment Procedure Development for the Degradation of β-Lactam Antibiotic Residues Discharged from Cephalosporin Drug Manufacturing Plant

Cephalosporin antibiotics are non-biodegradable and can remain active in aquatic environments for a long time to exert selective pressure on Bacteria to be resistant. The improper disposal of these antibiotics from various sources like Hospitals, Individual Households, and Drug Manufacturing causes them to reach aquatic environments. Conventional effluent treatment plants available in drug manufacturing plants are ineffective at removing cephalosporin residues from Wastewater. The study elaborated the degradation procedure of 11 Cephalosporin molecules in the Laboratory first and implemented the strategy in the built Wastewater Pre-treatment Plant (WWPTP) conforming same chemical environment. The degradation was completed with a higher concentrate NaOH solution with a pH of around 10.00 to 13.00. The 11 Cephalosporin molecules were degraded completely and measured by a developed HPLC method with an LOD of 50 ppb. The treatment condition was proven capable of degrading variable concentrations of Cephalosporins (125, 250 & 500 ppm) and the degradants were also evaluated and quantified. The cost-effectiveness of the pre-treatment procedure was evaluated by different experiments, like reduction of treatment time, deduction of HCl neutralization, evaluation of variable concentrations, and versatility of the chromatographic method with other environmental samples in the Wastewater Pre-treatment Plant.