Removal of sulfonamide antibiotics by a sonocatalytic Fenton-like reaction: Efficiency and mechanisms

With the widespread use of sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs), SAs are detected as residues in aquatic environments, posing a serious threat to human life and safety. Because of their high water solubility, fast transmission rate, and strong antibacterial properties, the safe disposal of SAs has become a key constraint for water quality assurance. Therefore, an ultrasound (US)-assisted zero-valent iron (ZVI)/persulfate (PS) system was proposed to explore the rapid and effective degradation of SAs. Comparative experiments were performed to study the removal of sulfadiazine (SDZ) by US, ZVI, PS, US/ZVI, US/PS, ZVI/PS, and US-ZVI/PS systems, respectively. Experimental results indicated that the highest removal efficiency of SDZ was ahieved in US-ZVI/PS system (97.4%), which were 2–44 times higher than that in other systems. Furthermore, the degradation efficiency of five typical SAs was achieved over 95%, demonstrating the effectiveness of the US ZVI/PS system for SAs removal. Also, quantum chemical computations for potential reactive sites of SAs and intermediate product detection by HPLC‒MS/MS were performed. The radical attack on active sites of SAs, such as N atom (number 7), was the main reason for SAs removal in US-ZVI/PS system. Besides, the common degradation pathways of six typical SAs were defined as S–N bond cleavage, C–N bond cleavage, benzene ring hydroxylation, aniline oxidation, and R substituent oxidation. Interestingly, the unique pathway of “SO₂ group extraction” was observed in the degradation of six-membered ring SAs. Therefore, the US-ZVI/PS system is a promising and cost-effective method for the removal of SAs and other refractory pollutants.