Advanced oxidation of the pharmaceutical pollutant ciprofloxacin with activated persulfate radical on ferrite spinels

Abstract

Currently, a large number of different drugs are used to treat animal and human diseases. Due to widespread use and improper disposal, they eventually pollute surface and underground waters. Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) can be useful in the treatment of emerging pollutants. Spinels are a group of mixed metal oxides, which are a suitable option for radical activation in advanced oxidation processes due to their favorable structure and morphology. In this research, the removal of ciprofloxacin antibiotic by advanced oxidation process based on persulfate radical activated by spinel ferrite catalysts prepared by co-precipitation method was studied and the effect of different precipitating agents in the preparation of spinels on their catalytic performance was investigated. The results showed that cobalt ferrite spinel performed better than nickel ferrite spinel and manganese ferrite. Besides, the XRD results showed that the catalysts prepared with urea precipitating agent had a more regular crystal structure than other precipitating agents.