Oxytetracycline (OTC), an important member of tetracyclines, has been detected extensively in various environmental systems, which may have an adverse impact on ecosystem and human health through the development of drug resistant bacteria and pathogens. In this study, the degradation kinetics and transformation mechanism of OTC by UV-254 nm and UV-254 nm/H2O2 were investigated. Presence of different water constituents (i.e., Cl−, SO42−, NO3−, Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe3+, and Cu2+) in the reaction solutions had a different degree of influence on the degradation of OTC. Though the elimination of total organic carbon (TOC) was limited with 10 h UV/H2O2 reaction, successful transformation of OTC was demonstrated by the detection of thirty-one degradation byproducts. Compared with results obtained by direct photolysis, potential degradation mechanisms in UV/H2O2 were proposed including hydroxylation, secondary alcohol oxidation (only by UV/H2O2), demethylation, decarbonylation and dehydration.

Degradation kinetics and mechanism of oxytetracycline by UV-254 nm/H2O2

251st National Meeting (2016)

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