Investigation of UV/S2O8 2- and UV/VUV/ S2O8 2- processes on the degradation of trimethoprim

Abstract

Several environmental and public health problems are caused by toxic pharmaceuticals with biological activity released into the environment. Conventional biological water treatment methods are generally not effective enough to completely remove pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics from waters, so advanced oxidation processes should be used as a complementary method. In this study, the removal efficiency of trimethoprim (TRIM) was investigated using UV (254 nm), UV/VUV (254/185 nm) photolysis, and UV/S2O8 2– and UV/VUV/S2O8 2– treatments. Opposite to the relatively high molar absorbance of TRIM at 254 nm, the simple UV photolysis was ineffective for its elimination. Its removal and mineralization were significant in the case of UV/VUV photolysis due to the •OH formation from water via absorption of 185 nm VUV light. The addition of S2O8 2– highly increased the transformation and mineralization rate in both cases due to the formation of SO4 . At the highest concentration of S2O8 2– , both UV and UV/VUV185nm photolysis removed the total TOC content within 45 minutes

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