Acta Chimica Slovaca (ACS) publishes papers on fundamental and applied aspects of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical technology, chemical engineering and process control, biotechnology and food technology. Welcome are also topics which include chemical aspects of materials, physical chemistry and chemical physics, analytical chemistry, macromolecular chemistry and biomedical engineering.

Inhibition of staphylococci and S. aureus in wastewater by ferrates and electrochemical methods

Alžbeta Medveďová, Stanislava Kecskesová a, Anna Krivjanska b, Marian Vojs c, Marián Marton d, Jan Filip e, Miroslav Fehér f, Tomáš Mackuľak * g

Department of Nutrition and Food Quality Assessment, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
a Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
b Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
c Institute of Electronics and Photonics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Ilkovičova 3, 812 19 Bratislava, Slovakia
d Institute of Electronics and Photonics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Ilkovičova 3, 812 19 Bratislava, Slovakia
e Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Departments of Physical Chemistry and Experimental Physics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University in Olomouc, Šlechtitelů 27, 78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic
f Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
g Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: * tomas.mackulak@stuba.sk

Abstract: Increasing concentration of antibiotics in environment and their subinhibitory concentrations in wastewater may result in increased antibiotic resistance of present bacteria. Therefore, this study was aimed to analyze the efficiency of coagulase-positive staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus inhibition in wastewater by electrochemical methods and addition of ferrates. Advanced electrochemical oxidation by boron doped diamond electrodes in anode; cathode and anode-cathode connection were used for wastewater disinfection. Results showed that the most effective connection was the anodic one, as complete inhibition of coagulase-positive staphylococci as well as of S. aureus was observed after 40 min. Energy consumption was 3.69 kWh/m3 for effluent wastewater disinfection. The second studied method of wastewater disinfection was the application of powdered ferrates. Addition of 100 mg of ferrates resulted in the inhibition of 84—96 % of coagulase-positive staphylococci and 97—99 % of S. aureus in influent water, while the inhibition of coagulase-positive staphylococci and S. aureus was 61—83 % and 83—86 %, respectively, in effluent wastewater.

Keywords: BDD electrode, coagulase-positive staphylococci, disinfection, ferrates, municipal wastewater, Staphylococcus aureus

Acta Chimica Slovaca, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2020, pp. 49—54, DOI: 10.2478/acs-2020-0023