Environmental contextHydrochlorothiazide, a common diuretic pharmaceutical, occurs in environmental waters because current treatment technologies are unable to eliminate it from wastewater. To remove this environmentally hazardous chemical from water, we developed an advanced electrochemical oxidation process to efficiently degrade and mineralise the compound. Wider application of the process holds the promise of general, efficient destruction of pharmaceuticals in aqueous media.
AbstractThe degradation and the mineralisation of the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide were studied by an advanced electrochemical oxidation process, ‘electro-Fenton’, which generates in situ hydroxyl radicals that are able to successfully oxidise or mineralise organic pollutants. In this study, a 0.1mM (29.8mgL−1) hydrochlorothiazide solution was completely oxidatively degraded in 15min under constant current electrolysis at 500 mA. The absolute kinetic rate constant of the oxidation reaction was also determined as (4.37±0.04)×109M−1s−1. The quasi-complete mineralisation of the solution was obtained with electrolysis for 6h under the same applied current. Several oxidation reaction intermediates were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The formed carboxylic acids during the mineralisation process were also studied; oxamic, oxalic, acetic and maleic acids were identified and their concentrations were monitored throughout the electrolysis. The ions released during the treatment were also considered. Based on these data and the total organic carbon (TOC) removal results, a possible mineralisation pathway was proposed. These findings enable the conclusion that the electro-Fenton process is an efficient and environmentally-friendly method to eliminate the hazardous drug hydrochlorothiazide from an aqueous environment.