Antibiotic removal by photocatalytic from advanced oxidation methods

ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance is a problem that endanger all living organisms worldwide. Antibiotic consumption is higher in Turkey compared to other countries in the world. If the amount of antibiotic use is not reduced, it is inevitable to experience a decrease in the potential to cure the disease. This will negatively affect the vital quality of living organisms. Researchers have tried many methods to solve this problem faced by human beings. Photocatalytic is the best chemical method that converts the contamination of the antibiotic active substance that causes antibiotic resistance to other less harmful compounds such as CO2 and H2O, not to another phase. In this study, cefixime trihydrate (SEF), which is an antibiotic active ingredient, was used in aqueous solution under certain optimum conditions (0.33 gL-1 catalyst dose, 4.1 pH value, 20.29 mgL-1 cefixime concentration and 60 W UV-A). With the electron-hole pairs formed by the photocatalyst exposed to A radiation, this carbonaceous pollution has been converted into different compounds such as CO2 and H2O, which are more harmless. In order to get higher efficiency from this process and to achieve results in a shorter time, our material was synthesized with the main material of titanium dioxide (TiO2) compound. In order to accelerate the photocatalytic process, the synthesized material was supported with graphene oxide (GO) and chitosan, which will reduce the band gap, and turned into a material with high efficiency and faster results (60 minutes, 95.34%) than other studies. In order to explain the structure and functional groups of this material, diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDX) and photoluminescence (PL) methods were used. In order to investigate the effects of the process variables and to determine the optimum conditions, D-optimal experiments were designed using the response surface method in line with both categorical and numerical factors. The results showed that the synthesized material (TiO2/GO/chitosan) showed a very good degradation in 60 minutes under optimum conditions of 0.327 gL-1 catalyst dose, 4.1 pH value, 20.29 mgL-1 cefixime concentration and 60 W UV-A irradiation. yield (95.34%). Science Code : 91208 Key Words : Cefixime trihydrate, D-optimal design, Response surface methodology, photocatalysis, TiO2/GO/Chitosan.