Journal Article

Degradation of anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen by electro-oxidation: comparison of electro-Fenton and anodic oxidation processes

Esposito, Giovanni, Oturan, Nihal, Feng, Ling, Oturan, Mehmet A, van Hullebusch, Eric D

2014

Overview

The electrochemical degradation of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ketoprofen in tap water has been studied using electro-Fenton (EF) and anodic oxidation (AO) processes with platinium (Pt) and boron-doped diamond (BDD) anodes and carbon felt cathode. Fast degradation of the parent drug molecule and its degradation intermediates leading to complete mineralization was achieved by BDD/carbon felt, Pt/carbon felt, and AO with BDD anode. The obtained results showed that oxidative degradation rate of ketoprofen and mineralization of its aqueous solution increased by increasing applied current. Degradation kinetics fitted well to a pseudo-first-order reaction. Absolute rate constant of the oxidation of ketoprofen by electrochemically generated hydroxyl radicals was determined to be (2.8 ± 0.1) × 10⁹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ by using competition kinetic method. Several reaction intermediates such as 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, pyrogallol, catechol, benzophenone, benzoic acid, and hydroquinone were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses. The formation, identification, and evolution of short-chain aliphatic carboxylic acids like formic, acetic, oxalic, glycolic, and glyoxylic acids were monitored with ion exclusion chromatography. Based on the identified aromatic/cyclic intermediates and carboxylic acids as end products before mineralization, a plausible mineralization pathway was proposed. The evolution of the toxicity during treatments was also monitored using Microtox method, showing a faster detoxification with higher applied current values.

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag,Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag
• Subject: Anodizing / Anti-inflammatory agents / Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal - chemistry / Aquatic Pollution / Aqueous solutions / Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution / Benzoic acid / Benzophenone / benzophenones / Boron / Boron - chemistry / Carbon / Carbon - chemistry / Carboxylic acids / catechol / Chromatography / Degradation / Detoxification / detoxification (processing) / Diamond - chemistry / Drinking water / Drugs / Earth and Environmental Science / Earth Sciences / Ecotoxicology / Efficiency / Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation Processes for Removal of Toxic/Persistent Organic Pollutants from Water / Electrochemistry / Electrodes / Electrolytes / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Evolution / Experiments / Free radicals / High-performance liquid chromatography / Hydroquinone / Hydroxyl Radical - chemistry / Hydroxyl radicals / Inflammation / Intermediates / Ketoprofen / Ketoprofen - chemistry / Kinetics / Liquid chromatography / Microtox / Mineralization / Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs / Oxidation / Oxidation-Reduction / p-Hydroxybenzoic acid / Persistent organic pollutants / Pharmaceuticals / Platinum - chemistry / Pollutants / Pyrogallol / Reagents / Sciences of the Universe / Studies / tap water / Toxicity / Waste Water Technology / Water Management / Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry / Water pollution / Water Pollution Control / Water Purification - methods / Water treatment