Intensified hydrodynamic cavitation using vortex flow based cavitating device for degradation of ciprofloxacin

• Published in: Chemical engineering research & design Vol. 187; pp. 623 - 632
• Main Authors: Patil, Pravin B., Thanekar, Pooja, Bhandari, Vinay M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Antibiotics removal; Ciprofloxacin; Degradation; Oxidation; Wastewater treatment; Degradation; Antibiotics removal; Oxidation; Ciprofloxacin; Wastewater treatment
• ISSN: 0263-8762
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cherd.2022.09.027

The present work, for the first time, establishes degradation behavior of ciprofloxacin (CIP), a widely used fluoroquinolone group of antibiotics, using vortex flow based hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) for low to high concentrations of CIP (10 and 100 mg/L). Effect of pressure on the degradation of CIP and TOC reduction was investigated on pilot plant scale (capacity 1 m3/h). Process intensifications using aeration as well as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were also investigated. While aeration did not yield any significant enhancement, process intensification using H2O2 resulted in ∼ 200% enhancement in the CIP degradation as compared to HC alone. Excellent degradations, to an extent of 79 & 95%, were achieved corresponding to high cavitational yields of 7.2 × 10−4 mg/J and 86.8 × 10−4 mg/J for CIP concentrations of 10 and 100 mg/L respectively using the process intensified approach of HC and H2O2, not reported so far for cavitating devices without moving elements. The developed methodology demonstrated 4–7 times improvement in per-pass degradation and low cost with high efficiency compared to the conventional cavitation. The results clearly highlight utility of the process intensified approach using H2O2 for the degradation of CIP even at high concentrations, specifically important for pharmaceutical industries requiring zero liquid discharge norms. [Display omitted] •Intensified Hydrodynamic cavitation for degradation of ciprofloxacin at high concentrations.•Ciprofloxacin degradation by vortex flow based cavitation device with high cavitational yield.•Process intensifications in hydrodynamic cavitation using H2O2 and aeration.•A very high enhancement in degradation, more than 200% compared to only HC.•Excellent degradation efficiency of 95%, low cost implies application to removal of antibiotics.