Thermally activated persulfate oxidation of ampicillin: Kinetics, transformation products and ecotoxicity

Kosmas Lalas; Olga S Arvaniti; Eirini Zkeri; Maria-Christina Nika; Nikolaos S Thomaidis; Dionissios Mantzavinos; Athanasios S Stasinakis; Zacharias Frontistis

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157378

Thermally activated persulfate oxidation of ampicillin: Kinetics, transformation products and ecotoxicity

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 10:846:157378. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157378. Epub 2022 Jul 14.

Authors

Kosmas Lalas¹, Olga S Arvaniti², Eirini Zkeri³, Maria-Christina Nika⁴, Nikolaos S Thomaidis⁴, Dionissios Mantzavinos⁵, Athanasios S Stasinakis³, Zacharias Frontistis⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, GR 50132 Kozani, Greece.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Caratheodory 1, University Campus, GR 26504 Patras, Greece; Department of Agricultural Development, Agrofood and Management of Natural Resources, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Psachna 34400, Greece.
³ Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, GR 81100 Mytilene, Greece.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis Zografou, GR 15771 Athens, Greece.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Caratheodory 1, University Campus, GR 26504 Patras, Greece.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, GR 50132 Kozani, Greece. Electronic address: zfrontistis@uowm.gr.

PMID: 35843320
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157378

Abstract

The heat-activated persulfate system showed encouraging results for the destruction of the widely used antibiotic Ampicillin (AMP). AMP removal follows exponential decay, and the observed kinetic constant was enhanced with persulfate (PS) dosage at the range 50-500 mg L^-1 and temperature (40-60 °C), while AMP thermolysis at 60 °C was almost negligible. The apparent activation energy was estimated to 124.7 kJ mol^-1_. Alkaline conditions, water matrix constituents like bicarbonates, humic acid, and real water matrices retarded AMP oxidation. Experiments performed with tert-butanol and methanol as scavengers demonstrated the contribution of sulfate radicals as the dominant reactive species. Seven transformation products (TPs) of AMP have been identified from AMP destruction. An EC₅₀ value equal to 187 mg L^-1 was calculated for 72 h of exposure of the microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana to AMP. According to the ecotoxicity experiments that conducted after treatment of AMP with PS for different reaction times, no important inhibition of microalgae was noticed for contact time of 72 h and 10 d. These results indicate the formation of no toxic AMP by-products for the applied experimental conditions.

Keywords: Ampicillin; Ecotoxicity; Heat-activated persulfate; Kinetics; Sulfate radicals; Transformation products.

MeSH terms

Ampicillin / toxicity
Chlorella*
Kinetics
Oxidation-Reduction
Sulfates
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / toxicity

Substances

Ampicillin
Sulfates
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical