Kinetics and mechanism investigation on the destruction of oxytetracycline by UV-254 nm activation of persulfate

Oxytetracycline (OTC), an important broad-spectrum antibiotic, has been detected extensively in various environmental systems, which may have a detrimental impact on ecosystem and human health through the development of drug resistant bacteria and pathogens. In this study, the degradation of OTC was evaluated by UV-254 nm activated persulfate (PS). The observed UV fluence based pseudo first-order rate constant (kobs) was found to be the highest at near neutral pH conditions (pH 5.5–8.5). Presence of various natural water constituents had different effects on OTC degradation, with a significant enhancement in the presence of bicarbonate or Cu2+. Limited elimination of total organic carbon (TOC) and PS was observed during the mineralization of OTC. Transformation byproducts in the presence and absence of hydroxyl radical scavenging agent tert-butanol (t-BuOH) were identified using ultra-high definition accurate-mass quadrupole time-of-flight liquid chromatography/mass spectrometer (LC-QTOF/MS). Potential OTC degradation mechanism was subsequently proposed revealing four different reaction pathways by SO4− reaction including hydroxylation (+16 Da), demethylation (−14 Da), decarbonylation (−28 Da) and dehydration (−18 Da). This study suggests that UV-254 nm/PS is a promising treatment technology for the control of water pollution caused by emerging contaminants such as OTC.