Chloramphenicol in Wastewater: Separating the Antibiotic at Source with ARBOK-PHARMIX

Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic banned in food-producing animals in the European Union since 1994, yet it keeps appearing in surface water and in pharmaceutical effluent. Conventional treatment either dilutes antibiotics in water and tries to extract them later, or converts them into by-products of unknown toxicity. A recent electrochemical study removed chloramphenicol from Bhopal wastewater in 48 hours but produced eight breakdown products whose toxicity has not been established. This preprint describes an alternative route: separation of the antibiotic at ambient temperature under deep vacuum (ARBOK-PHARMIX). Water boils at room temperature, light molecules pass to vapor, and heavy molecules, including antibiotics, hormones and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), settle as a concentrate that is split into dry salts, metals and acids. Energy consumption is 0.7 kWh per m3, against 150-250 kWh per tonne for evaporative zero liquid discharge (ZLD), and more than 99.9% of the water returns to production. For a plant treating 500 m3 per day, ARBOK engineering estimates give full operating cost with amortization of USD 120,000-200,000 per year against USD 5.5-9 million for the current practice.