Insights into amoxicillin degradation in water by non-thermal plasmas

Wenshao Li; Renwu Zhou; Rusen Zhou; Janith Weerasinghe; Tianqi Zhang; Alexander Gissibl; Patrick J Cullen; Robert Speight; Kostya Ken Ostrikov

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132757

Insights into amoxicillin degradation in water by non-thermal plasmas

Chemosphere. 2022 Mar;291(Pt 2):132757. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132757. Epub 2021 Nov 1.

Authors

Wenshao Li¹, Renwu Zhou², Rusen Zhou³, Janith Weerasinghe³, Tianqi Zhang⁴, Alexander Gissibl¹, Patrick J Cullen⁴, Robert Speight⁵, Kostya Ken Ostrikov³

Affiliations

¹ School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia.
² School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: renwu.zhou@sydney.edu.au.
³ School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, 4000, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 34736946
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132757

Abstract

Antibiotics have been extensively used as pharmaceuticals for diverse applications. However, their overuse and indiscriminate discharge to water systems have led to increased antibiotic levels in our aquatic environments, which poses risks to human and livestock health. Non-thermal plasma water. However, the issues of process scalability and the mechanisms towards understanding the plasma-induced degradation remain. This study addresses these issues by coupling a non-thermal plasma jet with a continuous flow reactor to reveal the effective mechanisms of amoxicillin degradation. Four industry-relevant feeding gases (nitrogen, air, argon, and oxygen), discharge voltages, and frequencies were assessed. Amoxicillin degradation efficiencies achieved using nitrogen and air were much higher compared to argon and oxygen and further improved by increasing the applied voltage and frequency. The efficiency of plasma-induced degradation depended on the interplay of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and nitrite (NO₂^-), validated by mimicked chemical solutions tests. Insights into prevailing degradation pathways were elucidated through the detection of intermediate products by advanced liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Keywords: Amoxicillin degradation; Non-thermal plasma; Plasma-liquid interactions; Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.

MeSH terms

Amoxicillin
Humans
Hydrogen Peroxide
Plasma Gases*
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Plasma Gases
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Water
Amoxicillin
Hydrogen Peroxide