Removal of the metronidazole from aqueous solution by heterogeneous electro-Fenton process using nano-Fe3O4

Among drugs, antibiotics have a significant place due to their wide consumption in veterinary and human medicine to prevent and treat microbial infections. In spite of low amounts of antibiotics in the aquatic environments, the repeated incidence of antibiotics has been caused bacterial persistence and adverse effects on health human and aquatic life. Current article evaluated the removal of metronidazole (MNZ) via heterogeneous electro-Fenton (EF) process by nano-Fe3O4. The response surface methodology (RSM) on Box-Behnken design was applied for modeling and optimization experimental factors such as pH, applied current, and catalyst load. The efficiency of the EF process was maximum (92.26%) under the optimal condition for MNZ removal i.e. 70 mg/L of initial MNZ concentration, pH of 3, 200 mA applied current, 30 min time and 3.2 kWh/m3 of energy consumption.