Degradation and mineralization of common pharmaceuticals using nitrogen-doped carbon monolith 3D electrode with 3D printed electrochemical reactor

Abstract

The oxidative degrdn. of common pharmaceuticals including propranolol, carbamazepine, ranitidine, metoprolol, trimethoprim, cimetidine, ciprofloxacin, and acetaminophen have been studied by using nitrogendoped carbon monolith 3D cathode in a continuous electro-peroxone process with novel 3D printed electrochem. reactor. The carbon monolith electrode was prepd. from polymer precursor with the ease of control over nitrogen dopant concn. and structure of the 3D porosity, which tunes oxygen redn. selectivity to facilitate hydrogen peroxide prodn. and improves mass transfer resp. The effect of parameters including c.d., soln. pH, and flow rate on the pharmaceutical degrdn. in aq. soln. was detd. The mineralization of pharmaceuticals and intermediates formed during the electro-peroxone treatment were evaluated using total org. carbon (TOC) and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF). In addn., we found the porous structure of the carbon monolith 3D electrode significantly influenced treatment efficiency, which is assocd. with the mobility of pharmaceuticals inside the pore structure. Our results indicate that carbon monolith 3D electrode is superior to the existing electrodes employed in electro-peroxone study in terms of treatment efficiency, and it may be employed as suitable alternative for the nanofiltration membrane.