Electrochemical oxidation process of antibiotics in waste water using double layer cathode reactor

Abstract

This study involves the electrochemical oxidation of antibiotics in a Trickle Bed Electrochemical Reactor (TBER) that was specially built for the purpose. The reactor's anode is formed of stainless steel, and the gas diffusion cathode (GDC) is constructed of carbon black polytetrafluoroethylene (CB-PTFE), which is placed on stainless steel mesh. Studies of tetracycline antibiotics were performed using 0.2M KOH as the supporting electrolyte and concentrations from 100 mg/L to 500 mg/L and (1-5) volts applied. The TC removal rate is governed by the pseudo-first order kinetic removal efficiency which rises with (1) raising the voltage (from 1 to 5) volt, (2) reducing the temperature, and (3) lowering the concentration of TC (to 100 mg/L from 500 mg/L). As compared to amoxicillin and cephalexin, the rate of removing the TC process is quite high, it was discovered that the electrochemical technique, which has a removal rate of 95.97%, is better at getting rid of the antibiotic.