Elimination from wastewater of antibiotics reserved for hospital settings, with a Fenton process based on zero-valent iron

The Fenton process activated by Zero Valent Iron (ZVI-Fenton) is shown here to effectively remove antibiotics reserved for hospital settings (specifically used treat antibiotic-resistant infections) from wastewater, thereby helping in the fight against bacterial resistance. Effective degradation of cefazolin, imipenem and vancomycin real urban wastewater was achieved at pH 5, which quite near neutrality when compared with classic that works 3–4. possibility operate successfully 5 has several advantages operation lower values: (i) reagent costs adjustment; (ii) insignificant impact on conductivity, because lesser acid required acidify or no base neutralization; (iii) undetectable release dissolved Fe, could otherwise be an issue quality. cost reagents treatment ranges between 0.04 0.07 $ m−3, looks very suitable practical applications. structures intermediates studied their likely abundance suggest that, once primary compound eliminated, most potential trigger antibiotic action been removed. Application ZVI-Fenton technique considerably development resistance bacteria.