Microplastics, Antibiotics, and Heavy Metals in Anaerobic Digestion Systems: A Critical Review of Sources, Impacts, and Mitigation Strategies

作者：Hongbo Liu, Yuan Xiang, Yuxuan Yao, Lijin Yao, Junbo Zhang, Claudia Maurer · 发表于：Recycling · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/recycling10030116 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Microplastics and Plastic Pollution、Healthcare and Environmental Waste Management、Recycling and Waste Management Techniques

The widespread implementation of anaerobic digestion (AD) systems for organic waste treatment is increasingly challenged by emerging contaminants, including microplastics (MPs), antibiotics, and heavy metals (HMs), which exhibit environmental persistence and pose risks to ecological and human health. This review critically examines the sources, transformation pathways, and advanced mitigation strategies for these contaminants within AD systems. MPs, primarily derived from fragmented plastics and personal care products, accumulate in digestates and act as vectors for adsorbing toxic additives and pathogens. Antibiotics, introduced via livestock manure and wastewater, exert selective pressures that propagate antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) while disrupting methanogenic consortia. HMs, originating from industrial and agricultural activities, impair microbial activity through bioaccumulation and enzymatic interference, with their bioavailability modulated by speciation shifts during digestion. To combat these challenges, promising mitigation approaches include the following: (1) bioaugmentation with specialized microbial consortia to enhance contaminant degradation and stabilize HMs; (2) thermal hydrolysis pretreatment to break down MPs and antibiotic residues; (3) chemical passivation using biochar or sulfides to immobilize HMs. Co-digestion practices inadvertently concentrate these contaminants, with MPs and HMs predominantly partitioning into solid phases, while antibiotics...