Degradation of antibiotic tetracycline using H2O2/TiO2/UV/microwave system

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In this study, we report the effective decomposition of the antibiotic tetracycline (TC), which contaminatesthe aquatic environment using a H2O2/TiO2/UV/microwave system. The addition of hydrogen peroxideor irradiating the decomposition reaction solution with microwaves during decomposition couldnot individually generate OH radicals. However, when a microwave discharge lamp (MDL) was used inaddition to the hydrogen peroxide during the decomposition, many OH radicals were generated withmore than 90% TC decomposition. Likewise, using microwaves and ultraviolet light (from the MDL)together with hydrogen peroxide showed a positive synergistic effect on TC decomposition.
Meanwhile, during the decomposition of TC using the H2O2/TiO2/UV/microwave system, we expected areduction in molecular weight by N-demethylation, hydroxylation, dehydration, and ring-opening reactions,and finally mineralized into CO2, H2O, and N-minerals. This study highlights the importance of OHradicals in the decomposition reaction and a method of efficiently generating OH radicals during decompositionusing hydrogen peroxide. Finally, the developed new advanced oxidation process (AOP) wasjudged to be sufficiently applicable for removing organic compounds that are difficult to decompose inaquatic environments.