The survey of Ultrasound - Electrocoagulation process in removal of Ciprofloxacin from aqueous through central composite design

Presence of antibiotics as emerging pollutants have aroused increasing concerns. The modelling of electrocoagulation process with ultrasound in the removal of Ciprofloxacin in aqueous solutions was aimed in the present study.
In this study a reactor with 1000 mL volume was used. Copper and iron electrodes were exploited as cathode and anode electrodes. Electrodes were connected to a direct electrical current supply as monopolar. The optimization of pH, current density, initial concentration of CIP and reaction time were conducted by CCD and finally suitable model was presented. In optimized conditions, the amount of electrode corrosion, COD and TOC removal, changes in the UV-Vis adsorption and FT-IR spectrum was measured. All procedures in study were conducted ethically.
Optimum conditions were found to occur at pH, current density, and reaction time of 7. 4, 1.5 In this situation the predicted and.A and 30 min, respectively in 15 mg CIP /L as an initial concentration actual efficiencies were 88.21 and 86.37 %, respectively. Also, a moderate COD and TOC removal, about 64 and 51 percent was achieved, respectively. Result of FT-IR analysis showed considerable changes in functional groups during removal process. Synergist effect of US in electrocoagulation process was estimated to be only 14 percent.
The results indicate that the proposed process have a good efficiency in CIP removal. It is possible to decrease the concentrations of similar pollutants before their discharge to the environment by the use of this method.