In this work, the effectiveness of green zero-valent iron nanoparticles (gnZVIs) for the removal of the antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ) from water via adsorption and reduction was tested. Additionally, the effectiveness of this material as a catalyst for the Fenton and photo-Fenton processes was also investigated. This represents the first study concerning the use of gnZVIs for the degradation of a sulfonamide antibiotic. The results obtained indicate that gnZVIs were able to remove up to 58% of SDZ via adsorption and up to 69% via adsorption plus reduction using a SDZ/Fe3+ molar ratio of 1:61.6. Furthermore, gnZVIs showed strong effectiveness as a catalyst for the Fenton and photo-Fenton reactions, with complete SDZ removal in 8 h and 5 min, respectively, using a SDZ/Fe3+/H2O2 molar ratio of 1:38.4:38.4. These results demonstrate that the use of gnZVIs constitutes an attractive and potential alternative technology for water remediation, reducing environmental impact and operational costs.
Keywords: Heterogeneous photo-Fenton process; Simulated sunlight; Sulfonamide antibiotic; Water remediation; gnZVI.
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