The aim of this work was to evaluate the catalytic activity of an iron-mining residue for photo-Fenton degradation of the pharmaceuticals sulfathiazole (STZ) and sulfamethazine (SMZ). The iron-mining residue, from different Brazilian mining sites, contains mainly Fe2O3 (25%), SiO2 (15%), P2O5 (15%) and CeO2 (8%) with particle size &lt; 425 μm and specific surface area of 26 m2 g-1. Using 1 mM H2O2 and 0.3 g L-1 residue, 80% degradation was obtained for both pharmaceuticals simultaneously (100 μM each) in the dark at pH 2.5 after 45 min. After the same period under UVA irradiation, concentrations were bellow detection limit (4 µg L-1) with a pseudo-first order kinetic constant (Kapp) of 0.0869 and 0.0718 min-1 for STZ and SMZ, respectively. The residue showed similar catalytic activity after five cycles and can be considered as promising catalyst for heterogeneous photo-Fenton process adding value to an industrial residue and minimizing environmental liabilities.

Application of iron mining residue for heterogeneous photo-fenton degradation of sulfathiazole and sulfamethazine

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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