APPLICATION OF ADVANCED OXIDATIVE ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESSES (AOEP’s) IN THE TREATMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL EFFLUENTS USING DDB ANODE
Pharmaceutical effluent. Advanced Oxidative Processes. DDB anode
In this study, the Anodic Oxidation processes with in situ hydrogen peroxide (AO-H2O2) and Electro-Fenton (EF) processes were used for the decontamination of two synthetic effluents containing the drugs caffeine and metformin hydrochloride (MET). the first one of the compounds most consumed by the general population and the last used in the treatment of type II diabetes. The anode using was the DDB boron doped diamond. The efficiency of the processes was evaluated by means of spectroscopy in UV-vis, COD, COT and HPLC. In order to optimize the processes, the influence of operational parameters was studied, such as support electrolyte concentration, drug concentration, current density (15, 30 and 60 mA cm-2) and initial pH (3.0). The maximum removal of caffeine, due to the chemical oxygen demand (COD), reached 92% and 53% after 360 min of electrolysis at the initial pH 3 for EF and AO-H2O2, respectively, with the initial concentration of caffeine 100 mg L-1, with a constant current density of 30mA cm-2 and 0.05 mol.L-1 of the Na2SO4 electrolyte. As for MET, it was possible to notice that the increase in the applied current density also favored the removal using AO-H2O2. Observing the EF data, it was possible to notice that the results were better with more than 97% removal when compared to AO-H2O2, which achieved 85% removal.