New Evidence of the Enhanced Elimination of a Persistent Drug Used as a Lipid Absorption Inhibitor by Advanced Oxidation with UV-A and Nanosized Catalysts

Narcisa Vrinceanu (1) , Raluca Maria Hlihor (2) , Andrei Ionut Simion (3) , Lacramioara Rusu (3) , Ildiko Fekete-Kertesz (4) , Noureddine Barka (5) , Lidia Favier (6)

1 Universitatea "Lucian Blaga" Sibiu
2 University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iaşi
3 University of Bacău Vasile Alecsandri
4 BME - Budapest University of Technology and Economics [Budapest]
5 USMS - Université Sultan Moulay Slimane
6 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes

This work demonstrates new evidence of the efficient destruction and mineralization of an emergent organic pollutant using UV-A and titanium nanosized catalysts. The target compound considered in this work is the primary metabolite of a lipid regulator drug, clofibrate, identified in many studies as refractory during conventional wastewater treatment. The photocatalytic performance study was carried out in batch mode at laboratory scale, in aqueous suspension. Kinetic data showed that titanium dioxide P25 Aeroxide (R) exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency compared to the other investigated catalysts. Pollutant degradation and mineralization efficiencies strongly increased when decreasing the initial substrate concentration. Target molecules oxidized faster when the catalyst load increased, and the mineralization was enhanced under acidic conditions 92% of mineralization was achieved at pH 4 after 190 min of reaction. Radical quenching assays confirmed that HO center dot and (hvb(+)) were the reactive oxygen species involved in the photocatalytic oxidation of the considered pollutant. In addition, further results revealed that the removal efficiency decreased in real water matrices. Finally, data collected through a series of phytotoxicity tests demonstrated that the photocatalytic process considerably reduces the toxicity of the treated solutions, confirming the process's effectiveness in the removal of persistent and biorefractory emergent organic water pollutants.

Mots clés: mineralization; toxicity; degradation; emerging water pollutants; pharmaceutic compounds; titania catalysts; photocatalysis; kinetics

Domaines: Catalyse; Autre; Ingénierie de l'environnement

Narcisa Vrinceanu, Raluca Maria Hlihor, Andrei Ionut Simion, Lacramioara Rusu, Ildiko Fekete-Kertesz, et al.. New Evidence of the Enhanced Elimination of a Persistent Drug Used as a Lipid Absorption Inhibitor by Advanced Oxidation with UV-A and Nanosized Catalysts. Catalysts, 2019, 9 (9), pp.761. ⟨10.3390/catal9090761⟩. ⟨hal-02359970⟩