Degradation of antibiotic levofloxacin using H2O2 electrogenerated in gas diffusion electrodes modified

• Grant number: 13/13510-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2013
• End date: October 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Roberto de Vasconcelos Lanza
• Grantee: Thaís Ereno
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the beginning of this century, concern for the environment has grown considerably, being one of the main focuses of the environmental problems of water resources. The sources of waste have in their composition a mixture of organic and inorganic compounds, and the most common types of by-products waste of reactions industrial waste, washing machinery, expired drugs, pharmaceuticals in sewage from hospitals. The situation is alarming when it comes to sewage coming from hospitals and medical centers, as they are thrown into the public sewage system, being added to the city sewer, allowing contaminated effluent that reach water bodies in natura in a large number of cities. The contamination of sewers by antibiotics can be considered in a timely manner, and at hospitals and medical centers, due to the wide range of antibiotics, such as Levofloxacin, the class of fluoroquinolones. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of electrochemical gas diffusion electrodes (GDE), produced with pigments graphitic conductors, modified with organic catalyst (menadione) redox synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in situ degradation of being used in drug Levofloxacin in electrochemical cell by monitoring the degradation process analysis using absorption spectrophotometry in the UV / Visible, by analyzes on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and total organic carbon (TOC) in the interest of studying the possible partial or complete mineralization of the drug Levofloxacin. (AU)