Efficiency and Mechanism of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Degradation in Wastewater by Fe3o4/Na2S2O8

The nanosized Fe3O4 catalyst was synthesized via a modified reverse coprecipitation method and characterized by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis instrument. The degradation efficiency and reaction rate of Fe3O4 in activating sodium persulfate used to degrade ciprofloxacin were determined from the catalyst dosage, oxidant concentration, and initial pH. The results showed that under the optimum conditions of a catalyst dosage of 2.0 g·L−1, a sodium persulfate concentration of 1.0 g·L−1, and an initial pH of 7, the degradation rate of ciprofloxacin was 93.73%, the removal rate of total organic carbon was 78%, and the first-order reaction constant was 0.06907 min−1 within 40 min. It was also demonstrated that the reactive oxygen species in the Fe3O4/sodium persulfate catalytic system were mainly composed of SO4– and supplemented by OH· and HO2· using probe compounds such as ethanol, tertiary butanol, and benzoquinone.