Treatability of cefazolin antibiotic formulation effluent with O₃ and O₃/H₂O₂ processes

The effect of applying ozonation and perozonation to antibiotic cefazolin-Na formulation effluents were investigated in this study. Twenty minutes of ozonation at a rate of 1,500 mg/L-h was observed to remove COD by 38%, whereas a COD removal efficiency of 40% was achieved via H₂O₂ enhanced ozonation (same conditions + 31.25 mM H₂O₂). Both of the pretreatment alternatives were monitored to elevate the BOD₅/COD ratio from 0.01 to 0.08. The initially inert COD was reduced by 38% using ozonation and by 60% employing H₂O₂ enhanced ozonation. In terms of the lowest achievable effluent COD levels after bio-treatment, ozonation was observed to yield a residual COD of 205 mg L^-1, while a residual COD of 135 mg L^-1 was involved for perozonation. According to the results of acute toxicity on Phaedactylum tricornutum, ozonated and perozonated samples exhibited more toxicity than the untreated effluent after 4 days. The activated sludge inhibition test demonstrated that both of the pretreatment alternatives efficiently eliminated the inhibition of investigated formulation effluent.