Abstract
BiFeO3 particles (BFO) were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method and characterized. BFO was pure, with a wide particle size distribution, and was visible light responsive. Tetracycline was chosen as the model pollutant in this study. The pH value was an important factor influencing the degradation efficiency. The total organic carbon (TOC) measurement was emphasized as a potential standard to evaluate the visible light photocatalytic degradation efficiency. The photo-Fenton process showed much better degradation efficiency and a wider pH adaptive range than photocatalysis or the Fenton process solely. The optimal residual TOC concentrations of the photocatalysis, Fenton and photo-Fenton processes were 81%, 65% and 21%, while the rate constants of the three processes under the same condition where the best residual TOC was acquired were 9.7 × 10−3, 3.2 × 10−2 and 1.5 × 10−1 min−1, respectively. BFO was demonstrated to have excellent stability and reusability. A comparison among different reported advanced oxidation processes removing tetracycline (TC) was also made. Our findings showed that the photo-Fenton process had good potential for antibiotic-containing waste water treatment. It provides a new method to deal with antibiotic pollution.
Highlights
Tetracycline (TC) as a representative antibiotic is extensively used in human and veterinary medicine and is toxic to aquatic organisms [1,2,3]
BiFeO3 particles (BFO) has been successfully synthesized as a photocatalyst and a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst by a facile and mild hydrothermal method in this study
The BFO dosage was determined by a photocatalysis test, and the H2 O2 dosage was determined by a Fenton-like test
Summary
Tetracycline (TC) as a representative antibiotic is extensively used in human and veterinary medicine and is toxic to aquatic organisms [1,2,3]. The existence of TC in natural water bodies may pose serious threats to the ecosystem and human health. As far as we know, the conventional physical and chemical water treatment processes lack adequate removal efficiency of TC [8,9]. Photocatalytic processes provide a good way for TC degradation. In the past few years, some research on the highly-efficient photocatalytic degradation of TC by different photocatalysts was reported [10,11]. New types of visible light-driven photocatalysts with high efficiency for TC degradation are still desirable [12]. Heterogeneous Fenton oxidation has been used to remove TC [13,14]
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