Antibiotics wastewater from tetracycline (TC) production unit can have high levels of chemical oxygen
demand, ammonium and sulfate and up to a few hundreds of milligrams per liter of TC. Denitrifying sulfide
removal (DSR) process is set up for simultaneously removal of sulfur, carbon and nitrogen from
waters. The DSR process was for the first time studied for treating TC wastewaters. The TC stress has
no adverse effects on removal rates of nitrate and acetate; however, it moderately deteriorated sulfide
removal rates and S0 accumulation rates when the concentration is higher than 100 mg L1 TC. The
Thauera sp., and Pseudomonas sp. present the heterotrophs and Sulfurovum sp. presented the autotroph
for the present DSR reactions. The high tolerance of TC stress by the tested consortium was explained
by the excess production of extracellular polymeric substances at high TC concentration, which can bind
with TC for minimizing its inhibition effects.