Sonochemical processes for antibiotics removal from water and wastewater: A systematic review

Abstract

Nowadays the removal of antibiotics in wastewater has become a matter of considerable interest due to their extensive usage and resistance to natural biodegradation. Among various wastewater treatment technologies, sonolysis as an advanced oxidation process has received considerable attention for the elimination and destruction of antibiotics due to its safety, operational simplicity, and environmental-friendly properties. The aim of this review is to organize the scattered available information relating to the sonochemical degradation of antibiotics for the last two decades. For this purpose, the operational variables, the degradation pathway, by-products, mineralization, the kinetics of the sonochemical antibiotic degradation as well as the mechanism of the synergistic effects in sono-based oxidation processes were critically reviewed. According to findings, most of the optimized sonolytic processes can obtain maximum removal efficiency with low antibiotic concentrations (i.e., 0.1–100 µM) and low US frequencies (i.e., 20–200 kHz) over a temperature range of 20–40 °C, though the exact recommended values vary depending on antibiotic characteristics and the sono-reactor geometry. Based on the literature, sono-based oxidation processes under optimized conditions yield significant benefits as compared to the individual processes; however, their applications at pilot and full-scale wastewater treatment are still incipient.