Experimental study of degradation and biodegradability of oxytetracycline antibiotic in aqueous solution using Fenton process

he degradation of aqueous oxytetracycline (OTC) from an aqueous solution antibiotic using H2O2/Fe2+ process was studied in one 1 L batch chemical reactor. The extent of OTC degradation (20 mg/ L) was investigated from a known initial pH solution, temperature and the type of catalyst (Fe2+, Fe3+) and for various initial concentrations of OTC, H2O2 and Fe2+. The degradation efficiency achieved was found to be very important (90.82% and 90.63%) at initial pH solution of 3 and 4, respectively. However, the type of catalyst and the reaction temperature had a slight impact on the final degradation of OTC. The results showed that the OTC removal increased with increasing initial H2O2 concentration in the range of 70 to 150 mg/L and initial Fe2+ concentrations in the range of 2 to 5 mg/L. The highest degradation efficiency obtained at ambient temperature was 90.95% with initial concentration of OTC of 10 mg/L, H2O2 = 150 mg/ L and Fe2+ = 5 mg/L. Moreover, biodegradability improved from 0.04 to 0.36 and chemical oxygen demand degradation was 78.35% after 60 min of treatment. This study proved that Fenton process can be used for pretreatment of wastewater contaminated by OTC before a biological treatment.