The process of sonocatalytic degradation via γ-Fe2O3 to eliminate the antibiotic Co-Amoxiclav/ the effect of diverse parameters/ kinetics study/ using response surface methodology

Abstract

In this work, the elimination of co-amoxiclav antibiotic from the water environment was optimized via the ultrasonic process coupled with γ Fe2O3 nanoparticles through the response surface methodology (RSM). In a laboratory investigation, parameters such as pH value (3–10), nanoparticle dose (0.1–0.3) g/L, reaction time (15–90) min, initial antibiotic concentration (20–75) mg/L and the frequencies of ultrasound waves (35–130) kHz were studied to assess the effect. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) was determined to track the elimination of Co-amoxiclav. The consequences of the data analysis showed that the catalyst dose and time contact had the greatest influence on the elimination rate of Co-Amoxiclav. The optimum condition in the performed runs were pH 3, ultrasound wave frequency 37 kHz, initial antibiotic concentration 10 mg/L, catalyst dose 0.2 g/L and reaction time 90 min. A COD removal efficiency of 97.09 was obtained with Co-Amoxiclav. The outcomes of this study illustrate that sonocatalytic elimination method has a high efficiency in eliminating Co-amoxiclav antibiotics from aqueous media.