Electro-Fenton degradation of a ternary pharmaceutical mixture and its application in the regeneration of spent biochar

This study proposed an integrated valorisation system, by combining adsorption and electro-Fenton processes for fast effective micropollutant remediation of a complex pharmaceutical mixture. The pharmaceuticals venlafaxine, fluoxetine trazodone, commonly detected in the environment (river water sediment), were selected this as target pollutants. Initially, degradation process ternary mixture was optimised. For this, Box-Behnken experimental design used each pollutant, response function, evaluated using three key operational parameters (iron concentration, current intensity solution pH). removed total onto biochar, regeneration which then carried out under optimal conditions (0.24 mA, 0.33 mM Fe2+ pH 3.2). In addition, different options relation to presence iron considered: i) dissolved aqueous solution; ii) supported on biochar; iii) no addition (“self-cleaning”). results confirmed that natural content biochar enough catalyse regeneration. adsorption-electro-Fenton repeated over several cycles with reduction efficiency either process. Finally, combination (adsorption process) tested matrix from wastewater treatment plant.