Optimization of ciprofloxacin degradation in wastewater by homogeneous sono-Fenton process at high frequency

Abstract

Emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals have been focusing international attention for a few decades. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a common drug that is widely found in hospital and wastewater treatment plants effluents, as well as in rivers. In this work, the feasibility of CIP degradation by ultrasound process at high frequency is discussed and sonolysis, sonolysis with hydrogen peroxide and sono-Fenton are evaluated. The amounts of hydrogen peroxide and ferrous ions (Fe 2+) needed were optimized using response surface methodology. Best results were obtained with the sono-Fenton process resulting in a total pharmaceutical degradation within 15 minutes and a mineralization greater than 60% after one hour. Optimal conditions were tested on a real matrix from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Even if the degradation of the pollutants by sono-Fenton was hampered, the removal efficiency of both CIP and total organic carbon (TOC) is interesting as an increase in the biodegradability of the wastewater is found. These results show that sono-Fenton oxidation can be a promising pre-treatment process for pharmaceutical-containing wastewaters.

TiO2 MOCVD coating for photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin using 365 nm UV LEDs - kinetics and mechanisms

“…Several AOP treatments have been studied and shown to be effective for the removal of fluoroquinolones. Individual processes (ozonation, photocatalysis, Fenton reaction…) and combined processes (O 3 /UV, O 3 /H 2 O 2 /UV and UV/H 2 O 2 ) also provide interesting performances [10][11][12]. Amongst these AOP, photocatalysis is known to be an efficient technique to degrade organic compounds such as fluoroquinolones under both UV [13][14][15] and visible light [16][17][18].…”

Detection and Treatment of Persistent Pollutants in Water: General Review of Pharmaceutical Products

“…To achieve greater effectiveness, at the lowest possible cost, combinations of processes, as can be seen in Figure 11, are often the best system solutions. For example, photo‐Fenton has been used to remove amoxicillin [244] and trimethoprim, [245] while ibuprofen [246] and ciprofloxacin [247] have been degradated, in wastewater, by homogeneous high frequency sono‐Fenton processes. Additionally, sulfamethoxazole was degraded by a bio‐electro‐Fenton system in 95 % [248] and losartan has been removed by sonochemical and photochemical AOP using UVC/H 2 O 2 [249] .…”

Emerging pollutants—Part II: Treatment

“…It has attracted wide attention to optimize the ultrasonic process parameters to achieve good pollutant removal effect. Labrada et al (2018) studied the degradation of ciprofloxacin in wastewater by homogeneous sono-Fenton process at high frequency and optimized the process parameters, including the amounts of H 2 O 2 and Fe 2+ . The results showed that the optimum condition was 14.2 mM H 2 O 2 and H 2 O 2 /Fe 2+ ratio of 6.0.…”