Increasing the removal efficiency of antibiotic resistance through anaerobic digestion with free nitrous acid pretreatment

Swine manure is a significant reservoir for antibiotic resistance. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a common biological process used to treat swine manure but still faces low efficiencies in biogas production and antibiotic resistance removal. It is here shown that AD with free nitrous acid pretreatment (FNA) was effective in reducing antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in swine manure. FNA pretreatment (nitrite =250 mg N/L, pH=5.0, temperature=20 ± 1 °C) simultaneously reduced antibiotics (Tetracyclines, Quinones and Sulfonamides), inactivated antibiotics resistance bacteria (ARB) by 0.5-3 logs, and decreased ARGs tet, sul and qnr by 1-2, 1-3 and 0.5 logs, respectively. In the following AD step, the total residual ARGs was reduced to ~3.49 × 10⁷ gene copies/g dry total solids (TS), ~1 log lower than that in the AD without pretreatment (3.55 ×10⁸ gene copies/g dry TS). Microbial community and network analyses revealed that the ARG removal was mainly driven by the direct FNA effect on reducing ARGs and antibiotics, not related to ARB. Besides, the FNA pretreatment doubled biochemical methane production potential from swine manure. Together these results demonstrate that AD with FNA pretreatment is a useful process greatly facilitating swine manure management.