Novel Ti/RuO2IrO2 anode to reduce the dangerousness of antibiotic polluted urines by Fenton-based processes

Scale-up of Ru-based mesh anodes for the degradation of synthetic hospital wastewater

“…On the other 10 hand, when the EC or PEC processes are applied, it is clear that regardless of the system, the UA decreases about 40%, while the CR and UR reduces in about 30% and 10%, respectively. Therefore, it can be affirmed that UR, UA and CR are present at high concentrations at the end of all processes, in both systems, indicating that among the organics present in the medium, the oxidation of antibiotics is favored [36]. Therefore, we can conclude that the use of MMO in electrochemical processes, using low applied current, is highly promising for the selective oxidation that highly dangerous organic compounds [37,38].…”

“…As can be seen for TOC kinetics rate constant (Figure 5b), PEC in MFC also appears as the betters system due to the faster kinetics. Despite other substances in the complex matrix are responsible to contribute to the TOC, which make it the kinetics slow, PEC leads to better outcomes, mainly in the MFC At this point, it is important to consider that these results only confirm the removal of antibiotics (MP, PG and CL), but do not inform about the remaining dangerousness of the treated urine, which may be associated with the presence of highly toxic substances (antibiotic and/or by-products) such as biologically active organic compounds or inorganic species [36,39,40]. Therefore, it is necessary to use techniques based on biological indicators to assess the hazardousness of urine before and after treatment [41].…”

“…Therefore, to clarify this point, in addition to the physical-chemical characterization, it is necessary to use a specific method to monitor the antibiotic resistance of the urine treated using microorganisms as the target bacteria. According to previous research by this group [30], this method can be used with different types of antibiotics, but the selection of the target bacteria depends directly on the type of antibiotic and its mechanism of action. Since in these studies we analyzed a urine that was polymedicated with MP, PG and CL, we used two different types of bacteria, E. Faecalis and E. Coli.…”

“…Additionally, the monitoring of other organics contained in the urine composition was carried out using HPLC for monitored of uric acid (UA), ion chromatography for creatinine (CR) and colorimetric methods for urea (UR), according to previously reported methodologies [30].…”

Electrochemical Technologies to Decrease the Chemical Risk of Hospital Wastewater and Urine

“…They used a UVC lamp of 9 W, and a current density applied of 30 mA cm −2 . Results showed a marked synergistic effect on the degradation of the antibiotic when coupling UVC light to electrolysis, reaching a total removal of the pollutant in 8 h. The degradation of penicillin G was also studied by Gonzaga et al [96], comparing the electro-Fenton and photoelectron-Fenton processes under acidic conditions (pH 3). Two different anodes were used (BDD and MMO-Ti/Ru 0.5 Ir 0.5 O 2 ) and a modified carbon-felt was employed as the cathode.…”