Evaluation of US/UV/SO40‒ Advanced Oxidation Process on the Removal of Amoxicillin from Aqueous Solutions

Pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics, are new contaminants that have created a major environmental concern because of their cumulative nature, adverse effects, and drug resistance. Their existence in domestic wastewater will pollute water resources. This study aimed to determine the performance of US/UV/SO40‒ processes in the removal of Amoxicillin (AMX).

The current experimental study used ultrasonic waves (US), ultraviolet rays (UV), and sulfate radicals (SO40‒). To detect the effect of variables, including contact time (0-120 min), the antibiotic concentration (5-50 mg/l), pH (3-9), persulfate concentration (1-7 mM), and the input power (550 W), the reactor has been sampled in different intervals, and the residue concentration was detected using a spectrophotometer in 294 nm length wave.

The results showed that the separate use of US and UV had no high operation with the best removal percentages of 33.3% and 13.29%, respectively. Simultaneous use of US/UV/SO40‒ showed a more high reduction in AMX concentration and the best removal percentage was 94.12% that took place in pH=6, the antibiotic concentration of 5 mg/L, persulfate concentration of 5 mM, and contact time of 120 min.

The result showed that the US/UV/SO40‒ process can be used as an operational process to remove the AMX from an aqueous environment.