Electrochemical Decomposition of Sulfamethazine and Tetracycline in Water and Cattle Urine

Many micropollutants such as, excreted or improperly discarded pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, are resistant to conventional biological treatments of waste waters. Non-conventional techniques have been designed to eliminate these substances in modified sewage treatment facilities and also at liquid manure treatment sites at livestock farms. Antibiotics such as, Sulfamethazine (SMZ) and Tetracycline (TC) are two different classes of anti-infection agents used in large amounts in human and veterinary medicine and are used as chemical models in this work. These antibiotics were electrochemically oxidized in cattle urine and water media at the lab scale of 300 milliliter-reactor using lead dioxide (Pb/PbO2 ) electrodes and efficiency results were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS and by UV-spectroscopy. The method of electrochemical decomposition of antibiotics in water and cattle urine was 95% efficient in the concentration range 0.50-10.00 mg/l (0.5 ppm-10 ppm). Specifically, at current density of 30 mA/cm2 >95% degradation of 10 ppm sulfamethazine was achieved in cattle urine and 90% in water within 60 min. Tetracycline in water was >95% decomposed in 40 min and to the same degree within 60 min in cattle urine.