Degradation of Metronidazole Antibiotic Using a Novel Synthesized Magnetic Nanocomposite in Heterogeneous Fenton-like Catalytic Process

Antibiotics are organic pollutants that are introduced into surface water and underground water sources due to urban and industrial effluents. Due to their high stability, they do not only disrupt the common processes of sewage treatment, but also have toxic effects on humans and other living organisms, and their removal have therefore been considered. This is an experimental study in a laboratory scale with the aim of evaluating the efficiency of the new FeNi₃/SiO₂/CuS magnetic nanocomposite for the decomposition of metronidazole in the presence of H₂O₂ as a heterogeneous Fenton- like catalytic process in aqueous solutions. In present study, firstly, this nanocomposite was synthesized and characterized by FESEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD and VSM. This study, which was performed on synthetic sewage in batch system, parameters such as pH (3, 5, 7, 9 and 11), nanocomposite dose (0.005- 0.1 g/L), metronidazole concentration (10-30 mg/L) and the concentration of hydrogen peroxide (50-200 mg/L) at ambient temperature was investigated. The obtained results showed that the highest percentage of removal of metronidazole in pH =7, nanocomposite dose (0.1 g/L), hydrogen peroxide concentration of 150 mg/L for 20 mg/L contaminant concentration at time of 180 minutes, 77.92%. Also, the kinetic rate of degradation flowed pseudo-first-order equation (R2=0.95) and the degradation constant rate of this reaction is 0/0038 (1/min). Based on the results obtained from this study, it can be concluded that Hentrogenase Fenton like catalytic process has a very good effect in removing metronidazole antibiotic contamination from aqueous solutions.