Abstract
Antibiotics have received great attention because of their abuse and potential hazards to the human health and environment. In the current work, peroxymonosulfate (PMS) was added to a cerium oxide (CeO2)/ultrasonic (US) system for tetracycline (TC) degradation. CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by a simple and cost-effective method using Stevia rebaudiana leaf extract and cerium nitrate as precursors. The as-synthesized CeO2 NPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The effects of catalyst dosage, PMS concentration, US power, initial antibiotic concentration, and pH on TC removal were investigated. The results confirmed the formation of CeO2 NPs with a fluorite structure, spherical shape, and average particle size of 29 nm. The removal efficiency of TC was 92.6% in the optimum oxidation conditions ([TC] = 15 mg/L, [PMS] = 50 mM, [CeO2] = 0.6 g/L, pH = 6, and US = 70 W) and followed the zero-order kinetics. Experiment scavenger demonstrated both sulfate and hydroxyl radicals (SO4•-, •OH) were responsible for degrading antibiotics. Biogenic CeO2 NPs and ultrasound waves-activated PMS is a promising technology for water pollution caused by contaminants such as pharmaceuticals.
Highlights
Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), based on the production of sulfate and hydroxyl radicals, have been considered for water and wastewater treatment due to their high oxidation power and conversion of antibiotic (Malakootian et al a, b, c, d, ; Nasiri et al ; Tamaddon et al a, b) and many organic chemical compounds into minerals, water, and carbon dioxide (Pi et al ; Yang et al )
The current study aims to investigate the ability of the US/ PMS/CeO2 sonocatalytic process to remove TC antibiotics from artificial wastewater
The results showed that the use of the US alone, PMS alone, and CeO2 alone had a slight effect on TC removal, which could be related to the absence of hydroxyl and sulfate radical production
Summary
Tetracycline (TC; C22H24N2O8) is the second broad-spectrum antibiotic which is largely used in human and. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), based on the production of sulfate and hydroxyl radicals, have been considered for water and wastewater treatment due to their high oxidation power and conversion of antibiotic (Malakootian et al a, b, c, d, ; Nasiri et al ; Tamaddon et al a, b) and many organic chemical compounds into minerals, water, and carbon dioxide (Pi et al ; Yang et al ). Sonocatalytic methods have been studied in various studies using metal oxides under different conditions to eliminate antibiotics (Karimi Fatehifar & Alizadeh ) Of those metal oxide catalysts, CeO2 is a suitable activator for PMS (Shen et al ). The combination of two or three activators is very attractive for wastewater treatment In this way, the US waves in the presence of CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) can accelerate PMS activation to produce sulfate radicals. The effects of pH, catalyst dosage, PMS, TC concentrations, and US power on the removal of TC were studied
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