Abstract:

The escalating discharge of antibiotic residues into aquatic ecosystems necessitates advanced treatment strategies to address inefficiencies and limitations of conventional methods. In this study, we explored a simple, efficient, and stable vacuum ultraviolet photocatalytic system for the degradation of different antibiotics. This system exhibits a synergistic effect among adsorption, photocatalysis, and ozonation, with a low-cost commercial mesoporous carbon-doped TiO2 (C-TiO2) as a multifunctional catalyst, demonstrating good performance across three major antibiotics: tetracycline, amoxicillin, and cefotaxime. The influencing factors, mineralization activity, degradation pathways, and toxicity assessments were thoroughly investigated to elucidate the reaction mechanism in the combined removal process with tetracycline as the target antibiotic. Furthermore, this catalyst exhibits superior stability and reusability, providing practical advantages for industrial scale implementation. I will briefly introduce the synergy effect of adsorption, photocatalytic and ozonation capabilities of the mesoporous C-TiO2 in this system. By unifying three pollutant-removal mechanisms into a single energy-efficient process, this work provides a scalable, cost-effective solution for industrial antibiotic wastewater treatment.