Solar/peracetic acid process for inactivation of pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic-resistant bacteria and degradation of antibiotic resistance gene

초록

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics have led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), necessitating the development of effective disinfection processes. This study evaluated peracetic acid (PAA)-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), particularly the solar/PAA process, as a sustainable disinfection strategy against pathogenic bacteria and ARB, using Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Disinfection efficiency and energy consumption were compared among five processes (PAA, UV-C, solar, UV-C/PAA, and solar/PAA), with MRSA exhibiting the greatest resistance to PAA (kobs= 0.10/min2). MRSA inactivation was significantly enhanced by the solar/PAA process, which maintained low energy consumption (electrical energy per order: 0.04-0.16 kWh/m3), due to the combined effects of photolysis, PAA oxidation, and reactive oxygen species generation. The solar/PAA process (10 min) removed 94.4-96.4% of total DNA from all three bacteria and 99.4% of the ARG (mecA) in MRSA, attributable to HO center dot radicals could generate within the cytoplasm that effectively attacked intracellular DNA and ARG. The solar/PAA process achieved log reduction value of 4.27 in tap water (4 min) and 6.07 in WWTP effluent (7 min), demonstrating its potential as a practical and cost-effective disinfection strategy for water treatment.

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