Degradation of tetracycline in aqueous medium by electrochemical method

Abstract

The degradation of tetracycline by anode oxidation with Ti/RuO2 -IrO2 electrode was carried out in an electrochemical cell. The effect of operating conditions such as electrical current density, initial pH, antibiotic concentration, electrolyte concentration and hydroxyl radical scavenger on the oxidation of tetracycline was investigated. The results showed that the degradation of tetracycline followed apparent pseudo-first-order kinetics. The rate constant increased linearly with the current density, but the oxidation curves displayed the same dependence on the amount of the specific charge passed. The degradation rate decreased with the initial antibiotic concentration. Either initial pH or electrolyte concentration had little effect on the electrochemical oxidation of tetracycline. The presence of tertbutanol did not hinder the degradation rate, indicating the radical contribution to the oxidation of tetracycline could be neglected. © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.