doi: 10.18178/ijesd.2020.11.10.1292
Methotrexate Degradation by UV-C and UV-C/TiO2 Pro-cesses with and without H2O2 Addition on Pilot Reactors
L. A. González-Burciaga1
,
J. C. García-Prieto ,
C. M. Núñez-Núñez1 ,
M. García-Roig ,
J. B. Proal-Nájera1
- 1Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIIDIR–Unidad Durango
Abstract
Methotrexate (MTX) is an anti-cancer drug that can be excreted up to 90% after administration due to its low biodegradability. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) are a feasible alternative for the elimination of MTX in the environment. In this research, AOPs were performed in specialized patented reactors (UBE Photocatalytic systems and BrightWater Titanium Advanced Oxidation Process) under experimental pilot conditions. Photolysis and heterogeneous photocatalysis (UV and UV/TiO<sub>2</sub>) experiments were performed with and without addition of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and at different initial pHs. Best degradation percentage was achieved by photolysis when initial pH was 3.5 and added H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> was 3 mM, reaching a MTX degradation of 82% after 120 min of reaction. HPLC-MS analysis of the resulting samples showed four possible byproducts of MTX degradation, which presented a higher ecotoxicity than the starting compound.
Keywords
- Methotrexate
- photodegradation
- water treatment
- cytostatics
How to Cite
L. A. González-Burciaga, J. C. García-Prieto, C. M. Núñez-Núñez, M. García-Roig, and J. B. Proal-Nájera, "Methotrexate Degradation by UV-C and UV-C/TiO2 Pro-cesses with and without H2O2 Addition on Pilot Reactors," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 471-476, 2020. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijesd.2020.11.10.1292
Copyright & License
Copyright © 2020 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).