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Degradation of ofloxacin by potassium ferrate: kinetics and degradation pathways

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Abstract

Drug residues, including various antibiotics, are being increasingly detected in aqueous environments. Ofloxacin (OFX) is one such antibiotic that is widely used in the treatment of several bacterial infections; however, chronic exposure to this antibiotic can have adverse impacts on human health. Hence, the identification of an effective OFX degradation method is essential. Thus, in this study, the degradation performance of OFX using potassium ferrate (Fe(VI)) under the influence of different initial concentrations, pH, temperature, and common ions in water was investigated. OFX degradation by Fe(VI) was directly proportional to the concentration of Fe(VI) and temperature and inversely proportional to the pH. Among the common ions in water, Fe3+ and NH4+ could significantly promote the degradation of OFX by Fe(IV), while humic acid (HA) significantly inhibited it. Under the conditions of [Fe(VI)]:[OFX] = 15:1, T = 25℃, and pH = 7.0, the removal efficiency of 8 μM OFX reached more than 90% in 4 min. Seven intermediates were identified by quadrupole time-of-flight tandem ultra-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (Q-TOF LC/MS), and two possible pathways for the degradation of OFX by Fe(VI) were proposed. Overall, the results suggest that advanced oxidation technology using Fe(VI) is effective for treating wastewater containing OFX.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering of Southwest Jiaotong University for their help with the experimental analysis work.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51803174).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Yanghan Chen & Zhaomin Tang

  2. Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Sichuan, 610000, China

    Qiuye Jin

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  1. Yanghan Chen
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  2. Qiuye Jin
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Contributions

Yanghan Chen: investigation, resources, visualization, writing – original draft; Qiuye Jin: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, data curation, visualization; Zhaomin Tang: validation, supervision, writing – review and editing, funding acquisition, project administration.

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Correspondence to Zhaomin Tang.

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Chen, Y., Jin, Q. & Tang, Z. Degradation of ofloxacin by potassium ferrate: kinetics and degradation pathways. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 44504–44512 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18949-x

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