Removal of Cefotaxime Antibiotic from Industrial Wasterwater via Forming a Complex with Fe(III)

Antibiotic pollution in the aquatic environment has emerged as one of the most serious concerns raised by Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Antibiotic levels in wastewater from antibiotics factories and hospitals have been detected at varying levels. Antibiotics may end up in municipal sewage or hospital wastewater in their original form or as metabolites after being consumed by humans and animals. Antibiotics, in fact, have become a type of "pseudo-persistent" pollutant in the aquatic environment due to their widespread and continuous use in daily life, despite the fact that their half-lives are relatively shorter than those of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Antibiotic residue in the environment is partly to blame for the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. In this study, a new reliable, and robust developed to estimate the cefotaxime content of pharmaceutical industrial wastewater was developed. This method is based on the accurate detection of this antibiotic using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultraviolet (UV), and FT-IR techniques. In addition, the removal of the chelate drug via the formation of a chelate complex with Fe(III). The concentration of cefotaxime-Na in industrial wastewater, temperature, time, and pH factors were observed. The removal percentage of cefotaxime-Na using this technique reached 96% at room temperature at pH 2.8. The study discovered that time limitation is a critical and effective parameter in the complexation reaction behavior when all other parameters are held constant. So, the complexation reaction technique can contribute to the treatment process as a stage for removing the beta-lactam antibiotics chemically from industrial wastewater, then preventing the appearance of types of resistant bacteria will be achieved to maintain the effectiveness of beta-lactam antibiotics and keep our environment safe.