Abstract
Pharmaceutical wastewater treatment is an essential component of environmental protection and sustainable development. In this study, our aim was to investigate the morphology, characterization, and effectiveness of TiO2/graphene composite nanofiber photocatalysts in the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater containing three different pharmaceutical groups, such as an antibiotic (rifampin), painkiller (phenazopyridine), and immunosuppressant (azathioprine). Various parameters such as pH, salt concentration, and initial pharmaceutical compound concentration were optimized to achieve maximum degradation kinetics and efficiency. The optimum conditions were determined to be 1.5% graphene content, 30 ppm initial concentration of pharmaceutical compound, pH=5, and a 0.5 g/L photocatalyst dose. The presence of salt slightly decreased the degradation kinetics, but it did not significantly affect the performance of the TiO2/graphene composite nanofibers photocatalyst. At optimum condition, TiO2/1.5% graphene composite nanofibers degraded 50% of phenazopyridine, 86.89% of rifampin, and completely azathioprine. Comparing with phenazopyridine, N heteroatom-rich molecule of azathioprine and hydroxyl-rich molecule of rifampin lead to being susceptible to photocatalytic degradation. The reuse of the photocatalyst in multiple cycles showed consistent performance, indicating its potential for practical and economic applications.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis, and preparation of first draft were performed by Masoumeh Sharif Teshnizi. Conceptualization, funding acquisition, project administration, supervision, review, and editing were performed by Mohammad Karimi. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Sharifi Teshnizi, M., Karimi, M. TiO2/graphene composite nanofibers for efficient photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical compounds: Rifampin, Phenazopyridine, Azathioprine. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 107956–107969 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29869-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29869-9