Pyrite as a sustainable catalyst in electro-Fenton process for improving oxidation of sulfamethazine. Kinetics, mechanism and toxicity assessment.

The degradation of 0.20 mM sulfamethazine (SMT) solutions was investigated by heterogeneous electro-Fenton (EF) process using pyrite as source of Fe(2+) (catalyst) and pH regulator in an undivided electrochemical cell equipped either with a Pt or a BDD anode and carbon-felt as cathode. Effect of pyrite concentration and applied current on the oxidative degradation kinetics and mineralization efficiency has been studied. The higher oxidation power of the process, named "Pyrite-EF″ using BDD anode was demonstrated. Pyrite-EF showed a better performance for the oxidation/mineralization of the drug SMT in comparison to the classic EF process: 95% and 87% TOC removal by Pyrite-EF with BDD and Pt anodes, respectively, versus 90% and 83% by classical EF with BDD and Pt anodes, respectively. The rate constant of the oxidation of SMT by OH was determined by the competition kinetics method and found to be 1.87 × 10(9) mol(-1) L s(-1). Based on the identified reaction intermediates by HPLC and GS-MS, as well as released SO4(2-), NH4(+) and NO3(-) ions, a plausible reaction pathway was proposed for the mineralization of SMT during Pyrite-EF process. Toxicity assessment by means of Microtox method revealed the formation of some toxic intermediates during the treatment. However, toxicity of the solution was removed at the end of treatment.

Electrochemical mineralization of the antibiotic levofloxacin by electro-Fenton-pyrite process.

Levofloxacin is a large spectrum antibiotic from fluoroquinolones family, widely used and detected in natural waters. Here, this drug was degraded by a novel heterogeneous electro-Fenton (EF) process, so-called EF-pyrite, in which pyrite powder in suspension regulates the solution pH to 3.0 and supplies 0.2mM Fe(2+) as catalyst to the solution. Trials were performed with a stirred boron-doped diamond (BDD)/carbon-felt cell under O2 bubbling for cathodic H2O2 generation. Hydroxyl radicals formed from water oxidation at the BDD anode and in the bulk from Fenton's reaction between Fe(2+) and H2O2 were the main oxidizing agents. The effect of applied current and antibiotic concentration over the mineralization rate and degree, mineralization current efficiency and specific energy consumption was studied. An almost total mineralization was achieved for a 0.23mM drug solution operating at 300mA for 8h. The kinetic decay of the drug was followed by reversed-phase HPLC and obeyed a pseudo-first-order reaction. Ion-exclusion HPLC analysis of treated solutions revealed that oxalic and oxamic acids, the most persistent final products, were the predominant pollutants remaining in solution at long electrolysis time. Ion chromatography analysis confirmed the release of F(-), NO3(-) and NH4(+) ions during levofloxacin mineralization.