Abstract

The presence of residual antibiotics in the environment is one of the major global concerns, and it is imperative to control their discharge in water bodies. The present study used a combination of Fe3O4 nanoparticles/persulfate in conjunction with ultrasound to address this problem; the influence of effective parameters in the remediation process, persulfate concentration, nanoparticle concentrations, initial antibiotic concentration, contact time and pH was investigated. The highest removal rate of tetracycline antibiotic was observed at pH 10, the amount of magnetic nanoparticles being (0.3 g/L), with persulfate concentration at 4 mM for the removal of antibiotic concentration at 10 mg/L; TC and COD removal efficiency is 92.99 and 79.85, respectively. The deployment of sonocatalytic process, along with the use of magnetite nanoparticles and persulfates as oxidizing agents, appears to be an effective means for decreasing the high-level tetracycline concentration in water. GRAPHICS .