Comparison of biological and advanced treatment processes for ciprofloxacin removal in a raw hospital wastewater

The treatability of ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic was investigated using a single aerobic, a single anaerobic, an anaerobic/aerobic sequential reactor system, a sonicator and a photocatalytic reactor with TiO2 nanoparticles in a raw hospital wastewater in Izmir, Turkey. The effects of increasing organic loading on the performance of all biological systems were investigated, while the effects of power and time on the yields of sonication and photocatalysis were determined. The maximum COD and CIP yields were 95% and 83% in anaerobic/aerobic sequential reactor system at an HRT of 10 days and at an OLR of 0.19 g COD/Lxday after 50 days of incubation, respectively. The maximum CH4 gas production was 580 mL day(-1) at an HRT of 6.7 days. The maximum COD and CIP yields were 95% and 81% after 45 min sonication time at a power of 640W and a frequency of 35kHz while the maximum yield of COD and CIP were 98% and 88% after 45 min UV irradiation time with a UV power of 210W using 0.5gL(-1) TiO2. Among the aforementioned treatment processes, it was found that the highest treatment yields for COD (98%) and CIP (88%) pollutants were obtained with the photocatalytic process due to high OH. radical productions.