Comparative mineralization of mixed antibiotics in synthetic hospital wastewater matrices by electrochemical AOPs using a solar-assisted plant

Abstract

Antibiotics, when administered orally, are usually excreted in the urine and feces, without being metabolized by human and animal bodies, thereby contaminating the sewage discharged from hospitals. In the last decade, electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) have received considerable attention for the removal of these organic compounds from contaminated water However, most of the published works have only addressed the application of these effective technologies in simple synthetic media, usually composed of sulfate or sodium chloride, without analyzing the influence of other inorganic ions and organic compounds that can be found in actual hospital effluents. Thus, the need to improve and develop EAOP technologies tested in both, complex and actual water matrices is evident. It is also necessary to study mixtures of target molecules that can be plausibly detected in wastewater effluents, in order to evaluate the efficiency and mineralization rate of the EAOPs in a more realistic manner. This proposal presents a thorough study on the comparative degradation of a mixture of antibiotics (Tazocin®, Moxifloxacin, and Clindamycin) in a simulated medium mimicking a hospital effluent, using the Electro-Fenton, Photo Electro-Fenton and Solar Photo Electro-Fenton processes are being developed at the Laboratori d'Electroquímica de Materials i del Medi Ambient. The process parameters, such as applied potential, flow, drug concentration and irradiation source, will be studied. Then, the influence of the combination of processes such as irradiation of UV or Solar light on the degradation experiments will be evaluated. The use of flow reactors and the combination of oxidizing processes will be studied to increase the degradation efficiency of antibiotics and propose a new method of treating effluents. These experiments will be carried out in synthetic hospital effluents containing a mixture of antibiotics to verify the possibility of use in large-scale reactors. So far, there is no adequate reactor configuration to perform large-scale degradations using coupled oxidation techniques. Thus, the experiments carried out in the research group of Professor Ignacio Sirés Saldonil, from the University of Barcelona, will be of fundamental importance both for the development of new technologies and for the consolidation of this line of research in Brazil. Pollutant degradation will be monitored by measurements of total organic carbon (TOC) and chromatography (HPLC). The inorganic ions lost during the mineralization process will be quantified by Ion Chromatography (IC). (AU