Antibiotic consumption in the latest years has increased rapidly, especially in my country. Cyprus records the second highest antibiotic consumption in the EU.
Antibiotic over-consumption can result to bacteria being resistant to antibiotics, therefore posing them as ineffective and creating a tremendous problem when managing bacterial infections.
My project aims to eliminate antibiotic residues from wastewater, using biochar, a charcoal-based material from sludge and manure, as an antibiotic absorbent. The biochar prepared was examined on four different antibiotic substances, with significance absorption rate.
Finally, my project suggests a possible small scale proposal of implementation of biochar.
This is how I came up with the idea for this project:It all started when I was helping at my mom's pharmacy over my summer holidays. I noticed that the number of antibiotic prescriptions was outrageous. Thus, I became curious to find out if my country indeed has an excessive antibiotic consumption and if this affects the ecosystem and specifically water.
