Plasma-liquid system for degradation of pharmaceutical effluent

Surface and underground water contamination are becoming a serious concern with time. In recent years, pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics have emerged as a serious water pollution hazard. This study is for the treatment of a pharmaceutical effluent containing the antibiotic compound ciprofloxacin (CIP). Contact glow discharge (CGD) process is used for the degradation of CIP-containing effluent of the pharmaceutical industry. The results show that CGD has a clear impact on the degradation of CIP. In 15 min, the degradation is only 2.5% and increases with exposure, reaches 84.3% in 150 min and attains a saturating trend, just 84.8% in 180 min. With the use of stainless steel (AISI 304) in CGD, iron ions are included in the solution which accelerates the degradation process. The change in the degradation rate of CIP with the addition of FeSO4 (2-15 mg/L) is investigated and it becomes almost double when the salt concentration is changed from 2 to 15 mg/L. According to our knowledge, it is the first study for pharmaceutical antibiotic CIP effluent decomposition by plasma liquid system.