Optimization of Vancomycin Antibiotic Removal from Synthetic and Real Wastewaters Using UV/Fe3O4@Alg-ZnO nanocomposite Photocatalysis: Response Surface Methodology Based on Box-Behnken Design
نویسندگان
1 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Ira
2 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Ira
3 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Ira
4 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Ira
5 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Ir
doi
10.34172/JHAD.92360چکیده
AbstractBackground: Vancomycin (VCM) is a critical antibiotic due to its high consumption and side effects, including increased bacterialresistance affecting treatment processes. This research investigated the efficiency of VCM antibiotic removal from an aqueoussolution using a UV/Fe3O4@Alg-ZnO integrated process.Methods: Response surface methodology (RSM) and a Box-Behnken design were applied using Design-Expert software tooptimize the number of samples and simultaneously understand the interactive effects between variables. X-ray diffraction (XRD),a vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM), field effect scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) analyses were used to check the structural characteristics. The effects of initial catalyst concentration (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5g/L), initial pollutant concentration (10, 30, and 50 mg/L), contact time (10, 30, and 50 minutes), and pH (3, 7, and 11) on VCMdecomposition rate were investigated. Spectrophotometry, total organic carbon (TOC), and GC-MS analyses were used to checkthe efficiency of the process.Results: In this study, VCM and TOC removal efficiency was 92.64% and 85.38%, respectively, under optimal conditions. Thereason for the reduction in the efficiency of the combined UV/Fe3O4@Alg-ZnO process in real raw sewage, after activated sludge(13%) and after activated sludge and stabilization ponds (24%), is the high COD, which causes the active radicals produced tobe spent on other species instead of the VCM antibiotic.Conclusion: The current study showed that the UV/Fe3O4@Alg-ZnO process performs well in removing VCM and TOC. In realwastewater, this efficiency was significantly reduced.
