sonochemical degradation of azithromycin in aqueous solution

Background: the presence of pharmaceutical substances and their residual in water resources is an important environmental concern. azithromycin, an antibiotic that is used for the treatment of infectious diseases, is a pollutant agent in the wastewater. the aim of this study was to investigate azithromycin degradation in aqueous solution through ultrasonic process in the presence of zinc oxide nanoparticles as catalysts.methods: sonocatalytic experiments were performed at variable conditions including ph (38), temperature (2060 °c), time (321 minutes), catalyst dosage (0.252 g/l), hydrogen peroxide concentration (15100 mg/l) and initial azithromycin concentration (10100 mg/l).results: the optimum values for ph (3), temperature (40 °c), time (15 minutes), catalyst dosage (1 g/l), h2o2 concentration (50 mg/l) and initial azithromycin concentration (20 mg/l) were determined. the highest degradation efficiency of 98.4% was achieved after 15 minutes of ultrasonic irradiation under optimum condition.conclusion: according to the results, ultrasonic irradiation is able to degrade azithromycin. in addition, zno and hydroxyl radical can successfully accelerate the reaction process in the shortest possible time.