Photocatalytic continuous degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants by zeolite/Fe3O4/CuS/CuWO4 nanocomposite under direct sunlight

Abstract

The study investigated solar photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants from aqueous solutions using Zeolite/Fe3O4/CuS/CuWO4 nanocomposite. The synergistic effect of factors such as initial levofloxacin and acetaminophen concentration, flow rate, and irradiation intensity were scrutinized in a continuous solar reactor. Under these conditions, the maximum removal was 84.77 % for acetaminophen and 73.26 % for LEVO at 220 and 200 min, respectively, at 5 mL/minute flow rate. In addition, acetaminophen real wastewater which had high concentrations of COD was pretreated as an effective process 51.38 %. This work enriched Zeolite/Fe3O4/CuS/CuWO4 heterojunction photocatalysts and provided a promising method to eliminate pharmaceutical pollutants from aqueous solution.

Keywords

• Levofloxacin and acetaminophen
• Zeolite/Fe3O4/CuS/CuWO4
• Sunlight
• Continuous reactor
• Real wastewater