The research team included specialists from the Faculty of Soil Science at Moscow State University, scientists from the Seversotsov Institute of Environmental and Evolutionary Problems, Razumovsky State University of Technology and Management, and the Institute for Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Scientists have proposed ways to eliminate pharmaceuticals that reach seawater with sewage, as antibiotics disrupt the balance of marine plants and animals and contribute to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, complicating the treatment of diseases in humans and animals.
The university stated: "Science is looking for new ways to solve this problem. Sonoplasia therapy is considered one of the promising methods, an innovative technology that combines ultrasonic cavitation and plasma discharge. This technology was developed at the Kornakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and has shown in experimental conditions an excellent ability to destroy antibiotics, making the water safe for marine organisms and the environment."
This new approach is suitable not only for application in production processes, but also in fish farms and greenhouses.
Vera Terekhova, head of the Soil and Surrounding Environments Biodiagnostics and Environmental Assessment Project Laboratory at the Faculty of Soil Sciences of Moscow State University, noted: “The use of sonoplasma treatment allows for the efficient purification of water from a difficult-to-degrade antibiotic such as tylosin. The treatment system tested by scientists gives good indicators for water purification, and the destruction of the antibiotic positively affects the growth of algae cells and the survival of crustaceans.
The research results were published in the Russian Journal of Theoretical and Applied Ecology.
