Executive Summary : | "Pharmaceutical drugs, including antibiotics, non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic, are commonly used to prevent infections and treat inflammatory disorders. However, long-term exposure to these drugs can lead to blood dyscrasias, imbalanced body fluids, and serious side effects such as agranulocytosis, hypersensitivity reactions, aplastic anemia, toxic epidermal necrolysis, and acute porphyria attacks. Wastewater discharge from pharmaceutical industries is a concern due to the presence of numerous drugs, which can be harmful to the ecosystem. To prevent contamination due to micro-pollutants, many approaches have been adopted, but many are not economical and use hazardous chemicals. The development of novel and eco-friendly techniques, such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), is crucial for achieving complete mineralization. Sulfate radicals with high oxidation potential 2.6 eV are effective due to their high solubility, long half-life, and stability. However, some drug molecules or intermediates are highly hydrophobic, making it challenging to achieve complete mineralization. To overcome these drawbacks, ultrasound and electrolysis can be used with persulfate processes, allowing hydrophobic organic molecules to migrate towards the hydrophobic surface of cavitation bubbles. This enhances the interaction probability between pollutants and radicals at hydrophobic bubble surfaces, enhancing degradation efficiency.
This proposal proposes investigating the degradation of pharmaceutical drugs using sono-electrochemical activated sulfate radical-based oxidation reactions, with optimization of parameters such as solution pH, temperature, frequency, duty cycle, initial concentration of pollutants and oxidant, and voltage. Three drugs, Metamizole, Chloramphenicol, and Oxytetracycline, are chosen as model emerging contaminants." |