Modified Photo-Fenton (Uv-Vis/Ferrioxalate/H202) Treatment of Recalcitrant Wastewater

Antibiotics can reach the aquatic environment through varwus sources such as
antibiotic industry, hospital effluent and excretion from humans and livestock. The
removal of antibiotics from wastewater has not been effective due to their relatively
low concentrations and because the conventional wastewater treatment plant (WTP)
is not designed to remove them. The problem associated with the presence of
antibiotics in low concentrations in the environment is the development of antibiotic
resistant bacteria which could lead to severe health problem. The study examined the
effectiveness of modified photo-Fenton treatment of an antibiotic wastewater
containing amoxicillin and cloxacillin and determined the optimum operating
conditions (H20 2/COD molar ratio 2.75, Hz0z/Fe3+ molar ratio 75, HzOz/CzHz04
molar ratio 37.5, irradiation time 90 min and pH 3) of the treatment. A series of
experiments modeled by the RSM software were conducted to obtain the optimum
operating conditions. Then, under the optimum operating conditions, efficiency of
modified photo-Fen ton treatment of the antibiotic wastewater was tested. The
efficiency and optimum operating conditions of the modified photo-Fenton treatment
were then compared to the efficiency and optimum operating conditions of Fenton
and photo-Fenton treatments. The study has found that the biodegradability improved
from -0 to 0.35 in 90 min, and the COD, NH3-N and TOC removal were 78.85%,
46.85% and 52.30%, respectively.