Panagiota Adamou
Reducing antibiotic resistance with wastewater treatments.
- Reducing antibiotic resistance with wastewater treatments
- Email: p.adamou2@ncl.ac.uk
Project title
Assessing tertiary treatment technologies for reducing antibiotic resistance genes abundance and diversity in domestic wastewater treatment effluents
Supervisors
Project description
We use antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. Anthropogenic activities such as medicine, agriculture and aquaculture use them. This has compromised their effectiveness. Antimicrobial resistance bacterial strains have evolved. These have spread across the environment.
Antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARBs) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) cause problems. They are often disseminated with the release of domestic and other wastewater. In this project, we will assess conventional wastewater treatment technologies. We will compare their relative ability to reduce diversity and abundances in final effluents.
Conventional wastewater treatment technologies are efficient at removing pathogens. This includes most ARBs and ARGs. But treatment with conventional technologies may not meet local water quality standards. In such cases, we need to undertake extra steps. This is especially true in water scarce areas or where reuse is needed.
We will also investigate advanced oxidation processes. These have the potential to enhance wastewater treatment and improve water quality, especially for reuse.
Publications
- Arfanis MK, Adamou P, Moustakas NG, Triantis TM, Kontos AG, Falaras P. Photocatalytic degradation of salicylic acid and caffeine emerging contaminants using titania nanotubes. In: Chemical Engineering Journal 2017, 310(2) 525-536.
Qualifications
- BSc in Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
- MSc in Environmental Engineering, University of Seville, Spain