Abstract
Three oxidation processes for amoxicillin wastewater pretreatment such as Electro-Fe3+(EDTA)/H2O2 (EDTA: ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), Fe3+(EDTA)/H2O2 and Electro-Fe3+/H2O2 were simultaneously discussed at pH of 7.0 (+/- 0.1). It was found that the above processes could achieve 78%, 64%, 33% chemical oxygen demand (CODcr) removal, and 86%, 70%, 47% amoxicillin degradation respectively. Moreover, the results of biodegradability (biological oxygen demand (BOD5)/CODcr ratio) showed that the Electro-Fe3+(EDTA)/H2O2 process was a promising way to pretreat antibiotic wastewater due to the biodegradability of the effluent improved to 0.48 compared with the cases of Fe3+(EDTA)/H2O2 (0.40) and Electro-Fe3+/H2O2 process (0.12). Therefore, it was reasonable to note that EDTA and electricity showed synergetic effect on the oxidation process. Additionally, infrared spectra (IR) were applied to concisely propose a potential degradation way of amoxicillin. The characteristic changes of H2O2 and EDTA in the oxidation process were also investigated in detail.