Abstract
Background: Discharging wastewaters containing antibiotic into the environment causes some adverse effects on the human health and other organisms. The present study investigated the efficiency of electropersulfate combined with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) process as a chemical oxidation in amoxicillin (AMX) degradation. Methods: Optimization of the significant operational independent variables was explored for removal of AMX. Central composite design (CCD) was employed as a statistical tool for experimental design. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for measuring AMX concentration. The most effective factors of the electro-persulfate and H2O2 on the removal efficiency of AMX such as initial concentration of AMX, initial pH, PS/H2O2 molar ratio, and the current density were measured. Results: The optimum conditions for electro-persulfate removal efficiency of AMX to reach the degradation efficiency of higher than 95.28 ± 2.64% at reaction time of 60 minutes were obtained at pH = 4.23, AMX concentration = 31.9 mmol/L, current density = 39 mA/cm2, and PS/H2O2 molar ratio = 0.82. AMX degradation was satisfactorily predicted by the quadratic model with high possibility and confidence level of 95%. The quadratic model had high regression coefficients (R2 = 0.9964 and R2 adj = 0.9926), which was totally acceptable. The removal efficiency of AMX reduced from 87.3 ± 6.1 to 25.9 ± 9 as pH increased from 5.5 to 7. Conclusion: According to the results, the electro-persulfate and H2O2 process can be suggested as the most effective, high efficient, and in-situ chemical oxidation for degradation of AMX. Keywords: Amoxicillin, Hydrogen peroxide, Oxidation-reduction, Antibiotic
Highlights
Antibiotics have been a major parts of drugs used for treating infections and diseases since World War II [1,2]
The results showed that the current density of 30 mA/cm2, initial pH of 5.5, persulfate/ hydrogen peroxide ratio of 1 could cause a high AMX removal
In this study, the efficiency of electro-persulfate combined with H2O2 technique in removal of AMX was analyzed
Summary
Antibiotics have been a major parts of drugs used for treating infections and diseases since World War II [1,2]. The absorption of AMX in the human body is negligible and its major parts that are orally taken stay un-decomposed. This drug could be excreted through various methods such as feces and urine in different forms (metabolized and non-metabolized forms) [5,6]. The pharmaceutical industry and hospital wastewater and sewage treatment plant effluents contain high amounts of AMX due to their weak biodegradability. This antibiotic can be detected in other sources like agriculture, aquacultures, livestock, and slaughterhouses. The present study investigated the efficiency of electropersulfate combined with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) process as a chemical oxidation in amoxicillin (AMX) degradation
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