Abstract
Oxytetracycline is one of the antibiotics most frequently used in the Shrimp Industry during the control of bacterial diseases. These emerging pollutants, which appear in low concentrations, are persistent and alternative treatments and are required for their elimination. The degradation of oxytetracycline was evaluated in an aqueous solution by applying homogeneous (UV/H2O2 and photo-Fenton) and heterogeneous (UV/TiO2/H2O2) advanced oxidative processes (AOPs). The studies were carried out using a bench reactor with short-wave ultraviolet lamps (UV-C). We quantified the extent to which the degradation of the drug had been efficient by employing highly efficient liquid chromatography (HPLC) and a PDA detector with a wavelength of 354 nm and a C18 column. The best results were obtained when applying the UV/H2O2 treatment, which attained a degradation of 97% under the initial conditions of a dose of 8 µL of H2O2 and 120 min of radiation. The pseudo-first order kinetic model proposed by Chan and Chu showed that the experimental results had an adequate fit, with values greater than R2 ≥ 0.95. Toxicity tests were applied to verify the effect of AOPs employed, when the drug was present in low concentrations. The test results demonstrated a decrease in the root growth of the species Lactuca sativa and Daucus carota.
Highlights
Emerging pollutants can generally be said to be of different chemical origins and nature that are released into the environment in low concentrations, but accumulate over time [1,2]
The results indicated that the pseudo-first order [37] could be employed for the degradation process by applying Equation (1)
The application of the advanced oxidative processes of homogeneous photocatalysis (UV/H2O2 and photo-Fenton) and heterogeneous photocatalysis (TiO2) to aqueous solution of OTC have obtained a degradation rate of 97%, with the UV/H2O2 treatment being the most suitable, since its performance was similar to that of the other treatments, but with the advantage that it was not necessary to use a catalyst to increase the effect of the process
Summary
Emerging pollutants can generally be said to be of different chemical origins and nature that are released into the environment in low concentrations, but accumulate over time [1,2]. This has, motivated the work currently being carried out in order to study their persistence and bioaccumulation, which may have a huge ecological impact in addition to adverse effects on health [3,4] These pollutants can be found in effluents of both industrial and domestic origin, and can contaminate aquifers, subterranean waters and soils. Pharmaceutical products, and tetracyclines, are a broad spectrum of antibiotics used in various fields of medicine and veterinary practices throughout the world [8] One member of this group is oxytetracycline (OTC), vast quantities of which are used by the agricultural industry worldwide owing to its low cost and high efficiency when employed in the cultivation of shrimp larvae [9,10]. Necessary to implement new technologies that will permit their detection and, principally, elimination [13,14]
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