PMMA-titania floating macrospheres for the photocatalytic remediation of agro-pharmaceutical wastewater.
Antibiotics such as tetracycline are used on a large scale in agriculture, and can become concentrated in wastewater lagoons that are used in conjunction with confined animal feeding operations. Solar-illuminated titanium dioxide can be used to photocatalytically degrade aqueous tetracycline, but its application in a lagoon environment requires that the photocatalyst be supported on a macroscopic support material to prevent loss of the nanoscale photocatalyst into the environment. In this work, titanium dioxide was deposited within a porous poly(methyl methacrylate) film on the surface of floating 7.0 cm diameter acrylic spheres. Six of these floating spheres removed over 96% of the tetracycline in 3.5 L of 60 mg/L tetracycline in natural pond water during 24 hours of solar illumination. The durability of these spheres under long-term solar exposure was also investigated along with the amount of photocatalyst lost from the sphere surface during use. These macroscale floating composite spheres provide a new method for removing tetracycline from wastewater lagoons with minimal risk of being displaced in the environment due to the large size of the spheres.
Erskine College Department of Chemistry and Erskine Center for Environmental Stewardship, P.O. Box 338, Due West, SC 29639, USA E-mail: boyd@erskine.edu.
Adam C
AC
Hartley
Erskine College Department of Chemistry and Erskine Center for Environmental Stewardship, P.O. Box 338, Due West, SC 29639, USA E-mail: boyd@erskine.edu.
Joseph B
JB
Moss
Erskine College Department of Chemistry and Erskine Center for Environmental Stewardship, P.O. Box 338, Due West, SC 29639, USA E-mail: boyd@erskine.edu.
Kyle J
KJ
Keesling
Erskine College Department of Chemistry and Erskine Center for Environmental Stewardship, P.O. Box 338, Due West, SC 29639, USA E-mail: boyd@erskine.edu.
Nathanael J
NJ
Moore
Erskine College Department of Chemistry and Erskine Center for Environmental Stewardship, P.O. Box 338, Due West, SC 29639, USA E-mail: boyd@erskine.edu.
Justin D
JD
Glover
Erskine College Department of Chemistry and Erskine Center for Environmental Stewardship, P.O. Box 338, Due West, SC 29639, USA E-mail: boyd@erskine.edu.
Joel E
JE
Boyd
D000179:Acrylates / Q000737:chemistry; D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental / Q000528:radiation effects; D002384:Catalysis / Q000528:radiation effects; D008027:Light; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000032:analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*
D000179:Acrylates; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D019904:Polymethyl Methacrylate; D012834:Silver; D013752:Tetracycline; D014025:Titanium; D062065:Wastewater; C009495:titanium dioxide; C036658:acrylic acid