Photocatalytic Treatment of Oxytetracycline Hydrochloride from Mariculture Wastewater Using Bismuth Oxide Doped Copper Oxide

In the ecological environment, oxytetracycline hydrochloride accumulates seriously and the main source is the discharge of mariculture wastewater. Bismuth oxide was found to do well in removing oxytetracycline hydrochloride, but the photocatalyst only responded to ultraviolet light strongly. In this article, copper oxide was introduced into bismuth oxide to enhance the response to visible light and inhibit the recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes. As single factor tests and orthogonal tests showed, with introducing copper oxide, the catalytic efficiency of bismuth oxide based photocatalyst for oxytetracycline hydrochloride was significantly improved. The reaction condition was converted from ultraviolet light to visible light, which was the improvement on energy saving and environmental protection. With the optimized conditions, the degradation efficiency of the catalyst was 99.70%. In addition, the cycle stability and reaction mechanism of the catalyst were discussed. After three times of recycling, the degradation efficiency was still more than 90%.