|
1
|
Li W, Zhou R, Zhou R, Weerasinghe J, Zhang T, Gissibl A, Cullen PJ, Speight R, Ostrikov KK. Insights into amoxicillin degradation in water by non-thermal plasmas. Chemosphere 2022; 291:132757. [PMID: 34736946 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Revised: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Antibiotics have been extensively used as pharmaceuticals for diverse applications. However, their overuse and indiscriminate discharge to water systems have led to increased antibiotic levels in our aquatic environments, which poses risks to human and livestock health. Non-thermal plasma water. However, the issues of process scalability and the mechanisms towards understanding the plasma-induced degradation remain. This study addresses these issues by coupling a non-thermal plasma jet with a continuous flow reactor to reveal the effective mechanisms of amoxicillin degradation. Four industry-relevant feeding gases (nitrogen, air, argon, and oxygen), discharge voltages, and frequencies were assessed. Amoxicillin degradation efficiencies achieved using nitrogen and air were much higher compared to argon and oxygen and further improved by increasing the applied voltage and frequency. The efficiency of plasma-induced degradation depended on the interplay of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitrite (NO2-), validated by mimicked chemical solutions tests. Insights into prevailing degradation pathways were elucidated through the detection of intermediate products by advanced liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wenshao Li
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia
| | - Renwu Zhou
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia.
| | - Rusen Zhou
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia
| | - Janith Weerasinghe
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia
| | - Tianqi Zhang
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Alexander Gissibl
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia
| | - Patrick J Cullen
- School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Robert Speight
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia
| | - Kostya Ken Ostrikov
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia
| |
Collapse
|