Sonocatalytic degradation coupled with single-walled carbon nanotubes for removal of ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole

This study examined the degradation of pharmaceuticals ((PhACs), ibuprofen (IBP) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX)) using an ultrasonic (US) reactor at a 1000 kHz frequency in the absence and presence of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). In the absence of SWNTs, maximum degradation of PhACs were achieved under high temperature; 55 > 35 > 25 > 15 °C. In addition, the relatively higher degradation of IBP and SMX was obtained under acidic condition at pH 3.5 than pH 7 and 9.5; >99%, 79%, and 72% for IBP and >99%, 75%, and 65% for SMX, respectively. However, H₂O₂production increased from 77 μM (no SWNTs) to 115 μM in the presence of SWNTs (45 mg/L) at pH 7. In addition, the removal of IBP and SMX significantly increased under US/SWNTs reaction conditions than US and SWNTs only reactions. The removal of IBP and SMX was 57% and 48% under SWNTs (adsorption) reactions, 77% and 70% under US reactions, and 97% and 92% under US/SWNTs reactions, respectively. This study evaluated the effect of temperature, pH, SWNTs, and physiochemical properties of selected PhACs under US process. In addition, the adsorption molecular modeling was validated with the experimental results.