Abatement of antibiotics and resistance genes during catalytic ozonation enhanced sludge dewatering process: Synchronized in volume and hazardousness reduction

Based on the efficiency of the catalytic ozonation techniques (HDWS+O₃ and MnFe₂O₄ @SBC+O₃) in enhancing the sludge dewaterability, the effectiveness in synchronized abatement antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was conducted to determine. The results revealed that catalytic ozonation conditioning altered the distribution of target antibiotics (tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), norfloxacin (NOR), ofloxacin (OFL)) in the dewatered filtrate, the dewatered sludge cake and the extra-microcolony/cellular polymers (EMPS/ECPS) layers, achieving the redistribution from solid-phase adsorption to liquid-phase dissolution. The total degradation rate was over 90% for TC and OTC, 72–78% for NOR and OFL; the abatement efficiency of eleven ARGs reached 1.47–3.01 log and 1.64–3.59 log, respectively, and more than four eARGs were eliminated. The effective abatement of the absolute abundance of Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) (0.91–1.89 log) demonstrated that catalytic ozonation conditioning could also significantly inhibit horizontal gene transfer (HGT). The abundance of resistant bacteria was greatly reduced and the signal transduction of the typical ARGs host bacteria was inhibited. The highly reactive oxidation species (ROS) generated were responsible for the abatement of antibiotics and ARGs. These findings provided new insights into the sludge conditioning for ideal and synchronized reduction in volume and hazardousness by catalytic ozonation processes in sludge treatment.