Homogenous VUV advanced oxidation process for enhanced degradation and mineralization of antibiotics in contaminated water

• Enhanced degradation and mineralization of AMX was investigated by VUV process.
• VUV process performed much better than UVC for oxidation of AMX.
• Complete mineralization of AMX attained in a short reaction time.
• VUV is a chemical-less advanced process for enhanced oxidation of antibiotics in water.

This study was aimed to evaluate the degradation and mineralization of amoxicillin(AMX), using VUV advanced process. The effect of pH, AMX initial concentration, presence of water ingredients, the effect of HRT, and mineralization level by VUV process were taken into consideration. In order to make a direct comparison, the test was also performed by UVC radiation. The results show that the degradation of AMX was following the first-order kinetic. It was found that direct photolysis by UVC was able to degrade 50 mg/L of AMX in 50 min,while it was 3 min for VUV process. It was also found that the removal efficiency by VUV process was directly influenced by pH of the solution, and higher removal rates were achieved at high pH values.The results show that 10 mg/L of AMX was completely degraded and mineralized within 50 s and 100 s, respectively, indicating that the AMX was completely destructed into non-hazardous materials. Operating the photoreactor in contentious-flow mode revealed that 10 mg/L AMX was completely degraded and mineralized at HRT values of 120 s and 300 s. it was concluded that the VUV advanced process was an efficient and viable technique for degradation and mineralization of contaminated water by antibiotics.