Degradation of Antibiotics in Aqueous Solution by Photocatalytic Process: Comparing the Efficiency in the Use of ZnO or TiO2

Abstract

Abstract:The study examined the photodegradative efficiency of ZnO and TiO 2 in degradation of antibiotics in aqueous matrices. Among several types of antibiotics, four antibiotics were chosen to feature the major classes of these compounds: amoxicillin, erythromycin, streptomycin and ciprofloxacin. Degradation of antibiotic solutions was carried out mainly under UV-light irradiation in a set time with the presence of small quantity of zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Solutions were analyzed with HPLC chromatography and degradation percentages were calculated from ratio between pick area associated to no degraded drug solution and degraded drug solution's pick area. Meanwhile, toxicity of antibiotics and degrading compounds were investigated using a biosensor system, consisting of Clark's electrode associated with a portion of agar medium culture containing Saccharomyces Cerevisiae yeast cells. This way, it was possible to define the oxygen that was consumed by yeast cells. Toxicity associated to antibiotics and degrading products are related to decrease of oxygen concentration in solution. It is clear that zinc oxide is slower than titanium dioxide to degrade antibiotics, but zinc oxide shows better photodegradation efficiency than titanium dioxide in spite of its small specific superficial area.

TiO2 and Au-TiO2 Nanomaterials for Rapid Photocatalytic Degradation of Antibiotic Residues in Aquaculture Wastewater

“…This indicates that antibiotics can completely degrade using the photocatalytic reaction with TiO 2 -based nanomaterials. Additionally, the UV-VIS photolysis or photocatalysis of antibiotics can produce potentially harmful substances [47,68]. Figure 6b shows the mass spectra of intermediates of OTC after 9 and 14 min of photocatalytic reaction.…”

“…Mass analysis was in positive and multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) and daughter ion mode. The Agilent Poroshell 120 Phenyl-hexyl (4.6 × 150 mm; 2.7 µm) column was used, and the mobile phase included acetonitrile-methanol-aqueous formic acid 0.1% in gradient program [47]. The results were evaluated using the degradation percentage of each antibiotic at various reaction times, starting at 0 and followed by 2, 5, 9, 14, and 20 min, as the ratio between the initial peak area of antibiotic solution (without photocatalytic treatment) and peak area of treated antibiotic solution.…”

A review on hospital wastewater treatment: A special emphasis on occurrence and removal of pharmaceutically active compounds, resistant microorganisms, and SARS-CoV-2

“… [19] . Researchers have reported high removal of around 99%, 100%, 90%, 88%, 100%, 95%, 100%, 95%, 90%, for various PhACs such as ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, trimethoprim, tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, paracetamol, naproxen, atenolol, metoprolol, respectively [19] , [167] , [170] , [171] , [172] , [173] , [174] , [175] . Photocatalytic processes have also been known to inactivate ARB as well.…”

Synthesis of titanium oxide thin films by spray pyrolysis method and its photocatalytic activity for degradation of dyes and ciprofloxacin

“…The chemical compounds with antibacterial properties, also known as antibiotics, are one of the most used pharmaceuticals for curing humans and animal diseases [4][5]. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a broad spectrum second generation fluoroquinolone antibiotics and play a critical role for treatment of diseases like pharyngitis, sinusitis and bronchitis [6], but pharmaceutical manufacturing, hospitals and excretion from human are the three common contamination ways of the CIP [4,[7][8]. So, it essential to eliminate CIP from aqueous solutions.…”