Investigation of MnO2/WO3-modified GDEs for ciprofloxacin degradation in water by solar photoelectro-Fenton-like process combined with photoelectrocatalysis

• Grant number: 23/02396-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Mauro Coelho dos Santos
• Grantee: João Paulo Carvalho Moura
• Supervisor: Ignacio Sirés Sadornil
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/05364-7 - Nanostructured electrocatalysts based on manganese and tungsten oxides supported on carbon for electrogeneration of hydrogen peroxide and electrochemical degradation of ciprofloxacino, BP.DR

Abstract

Pharmaceutical wastes have become a major target among organic micropollutants improperly discharged into water bodies, mainly due to their negative impact on human health and aquatic ecosystems. Hence, these emerging pollutants need to be monitored and adequately managed to minimize their impact. Therefore, the main goal of this project is the investigation of the mineralization ability of several electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs), such as anodic oxidation, electro-Fenton, UVA photoelectro-Fenton and solar photoelectro-Fenton when treating ciprofloxacin solutions, as well as the evaluation of coupling between EAOPs and photoelectrocatalysis. For this purpose, air-diffusion cathodes based on carbon cloth modified with nanostructured MnO2/WO3-Vulcan XC72 electrocatalysts will be employed in cells equipped with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode or WO3 photoanode. The degradation efficiency will be determined by monitoring the concentrations of organic pollutants via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and total organic carbon (TOC) analysis. The inorganic ions, carboxylic acids and aromatic by-products accumulated during the mineralization process will be identified by ion chromatography and GC-MS/LC-MS, thereby allowing the proposal of a reaction sequence for the degradation of ciprofloxacin. (AU)