Degradation of acyclovir by sustainable glasses obtained from natural water treatment sludges

Abstract

Sustainable glasses prepared from water treatment sludges (WTS) have been further enriched with Fe2O3 and investigated in terms of their catalytic activity for the degradation of the drug molecule Acyclovir. The effect of ZnO2 and Fe2O3 has been evaluated at different pH, H2O2 concentration and glass dosage. No degradation activity was detected in the glasses where Fe2O3 and/or ZnO are absent, while the glass with the highest Fe2O3 concentration has shown the most efficiency. According to the characterization of the glass bulk and surface, as well as the leached ions during the catalytic reaction, the Fenton degradation reaction was found to be homogeneous - heterogeneous type. The homogeneous Fenton reaction occurs because of the leaching of some Fe ions from the glass matrix, which occurred in the first moments after the H2O2 was incorporated to the solution. A congruent leaching behaviour was observed for all ions except Fe and P.