Removal of pharmaceutical substances from aqueous solutions by fenton process using magnetite mineral

In this study, the heterogeneous Fenton elimination of an antibiotic, Ciprofloxacin (CIP), in aqueous solution was examined on the nano-sized magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles supplied through high-energy planetary ball milling process acting as a catalyst. To characterize the magnetite samples after and before ball milling operation, the X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis were applied. Findings show that because of the improvement of its physical properties as a result of milling, the catalytic properties of the magnetite were considerably improved. The findings also indicated that 6 h ball-milled magnetite demonstrated proper properties in elimination of SİP by 88.92% SİP removal following 120 min reaction at optimal conditions of H2O2 12 mM, Fe3O4 1.75 g L-1, SİP 10 mg L-1, pH 3.0 under 25°C temperature. Various operational parameters' effect like the initial pH of solution, H2O2 initial concentration, catalyst dosage and SİP initial concentration was investigated. Application of organic and inorganic scavengers considerably decreased the CIP removal efficiency. From the above fact and leached iron values at pH 3, it was concluded that CIP elimination occurred mainly through heterogeneous Fenton procedure. This process includes the adsorption and oxidation phases in which the hydroxyl radicals ( ) play significant roles. GC-MS analysis was used for recording of the generated intermediates of the CIP removal in the course of heterogeneous Fenton process.