enhancement of tetracycline removal in aquatic environment by nano-pyrite//ultrasound as a sono-fenton process

This study was conducted to introduce a new sono-fenton system containing a nano-pyrite catalyst and hydrogen peroxide (hp) for the effective removal of tetracycline (tc) from aqueous solutions. the synthesized nano-pyrite was characterized through xrd, ftir, fe-sem, and edx analyses. the best performance of the sono-fenton nano-pyrite/hp system was observed under the condition of ph 3.0, tc 8.0 mg/l, hp 4.0 mm, ultrasound (us) 40 w, nano-pyrite 1.0 g/l, and 20 min with 93.1% removal efficiency. a comparison of the efficiency of the proposed system components confirmed the remarkable synergy between sono-catalysis and fenton reactions due to the simultaneous application of nano-pyrite, hp, and us power. meanwhile, us irradiation caused fluidization, turbulence, mass transfer, and nano-pyrite surface cleaning due to its cavitation and oscillation effects. according to the tracer test, the main agent of tc degradation in the sono-fenton process was ho•. the results showed that the tc removal efficiency from the first to the fourth run reached 93.1% to 70.3%. this means that the recyclability of nano-pyrite has been very successful. overall, the proposed sono-fenton system was an efficient and sustainable process for the rapid and effective removal of pharmaceutical contaminants from water and wastewater.