Research progress on treatment technology of tetracycline antibiotics pollution in the environment

Tetracycline antibiotics are a kind of low-cost broad-spectrum antibiotics, which are widely used in clinical medicine, animal husbandry, aquaculture and other fields. The excessive use and improper handling of tetracycline antibiotics have caused them to be discharged into water, soil and other environments. They remain and spread in the environment, posing a potential threat to ecology and human health. Therefore, their removal in the environment is particularly important. The sources of tetracycline antibiotics in the environment and their behavior in the environment were introduced, and the treatment technologies of these antibiotics in environmental media were outlined. The results showed that by the currently engineered wastewater treatment technologies, the wastewater could reach Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard (GB 8978-1996), but there were few special designs for the removal of tetracyclines and other types of antibiotics, resulting in residual antibiotics in the effluent after treatment, and thus brought about the risk of water environmental pollution. The removal of tetracyclines in soil was currently mostly stayed at the laboratory level, and the remediation technology that could be directly applied to antibiotic-contaminated soil by engineering required further study. Finally, the future researches on the treatment technology of tetracycline antibiotics was prospected, aiming to provide a scientific basis for the removal and treatment of tetracycline antibiotic pollution in the environment.