Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (iNanoWS), College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Private Bag X6, Florida Science Campus, 1709 Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa, Private Bag X06, Florida 1710, South Africa.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 10;881:163522. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163522. Epub 2023 Apr 15.
In recent times, the need to make water safer and cleaner through the elimination of recalcitrant pharmaceutical residues has been the aim of many studies. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, enrofloxacin, and levofloxacin are among the commonly detected pharmaceuticals in wastewater. Since the presence of these pharmaceuticals in water bodies poses serious risks to living organisms, it is vital to adopt effective wastewater treatment techniques for their complete removal. Electrochemical technologies such as photoelectrocatalysis, electro-Fenton, electrocoagulation, and electrochemical oxidation have been established as techniques capable of the complete removal of organics including pharmaceuticals from wastewater. Hence, this review presents discussions on the recent progress (literature within 2018-2022) in the applications of common electrochemical processes for the degradation of fluoroquinolone antibiotics from wastewater. The fundamentals of these processes are highlighted while the results obtained using the processes are critically discussed. Furthermore, the inherent advantages and limitations of these processes in the mineralization of fluoroquinolone antibiotics are clearly emphasized. Additionally, appropriate recommendations are made toward improving electrochemical technologies for the complete removal of these pharmaceuticals with minimal energy consumption. Therefore, this review will serve as a bedrock for future researchers concerned with wastewater treatments to make informed decisions in the selection of suitable electrochemical techniques for the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater.
近年来，通过消除难处理的药物残留来使水更安全、更清洁已成为许多研究的目标。氟喹诺酮类抗生素如环丙沙星、诺氟沙星、恩诺沙星和左氧氟沙星是废水中常见的药物。由于这些药物在水体中的存在对生物构成严重风险，因此采用有效的废水处理技术来完全去除这些药物至关重要。光电催化、电芬顿、电化学混凝和电化学氧化等电化学技术已被确立为能够完全去除废水中有机物（包括药物）的技术。因此，本综述介绍了 2018 年至 2022 年期间，常见电化学工艺应用于废水处理的最新进展。强调了这些过程的基本原理，同时对使用这些过程获得的结果进行了批判性讨论。此外，还明确强调了这些过程在氟喹诺酮类抗生素矿化方面的固有优势和局限性。此外，还针对如何通过最小化能耗来提高电化学技术以完全去除这些药物提出了适当的建议。因此，本综述将为未来关注废水处理的研究人员提供一个基础，以便在选择合适的电化学技术来去除废水中的药物时做出明智的决策。
