Feasibility of electrochemical degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants in different aqueous matrices: optimization through design of experiments.

Electrochemical degradation of different effluents polluted with carbamazepine, a well-known refractory pharmaceutical contaminant, was addressed in this article. Ultrapure water (Milli-Q(TM) technology), surface water from a lake and urban wastewater were the matrices used to evaluate the feasibility of performing the electro-oxidation of carbamazepine. Specific designs of experiments were planned for each of the aqueous media. The initial carbamazepine concentration and the electric current density were considered as the operational variables. Although the optimal values of both variables follow the same trend in the three cases, significant differences are observed regarding the comparative influence of each variable on the degradation of carbamazepine.