Degradation of tetracycline by non-thermal plasma coupled with ferrocene-chitosan
Journal
Journal of Water Process Engineering
Journal Volume
81
Start Page
109197
ISSN
22147144
Date Issued
2026-01
Author(s)
Abstract
In response to the challenges of ferrocene (Fc) agglomeration and difficult recovery in the degradation of tetracycline (TC) in water using non-thermal plasma (NTP) coupled with Fc, this study successfully prepared a ferrocene-chitosan (Fc-CS) composite catalyst to enhance TC degradation by NTP. The effects of polymerization temperature, ferrocene carboxaldehyde (Fc-CHO)/CS mass ratio, catalyst dosage, discharge voltage and frequency, initial pH, and inorganic anions on the degradation efficiency were systematically investigated. The results showed that under optimized conditions (synthesis temperature of 100 °C, m(Fc-CHO):m(CS) = 3:4), the Fc-CS/NTP system exhibited excellent degradation performance towards TC. Repeatability tests and post-reaction characterization, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), confirmed the high structural stability and good reusability of the Fc-CS catalyst. Mechanistic studies revealed that ·OH, O2·−, and 1O2 were the key active species in the degradation process; liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis indicated that the degradation pathway of TC involved ring-opening, demethylation, and C-N bond cleavage. This Fc-CS/NTP synergistic system provides a novel, efficient, stable, and potentially applicable method for antibiotic wastewater treatment.
Subjects
Catalysis
Chitosan composite ferrocene
Degradation
Non-thermal plasma
Tetracycline
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Description
Article number 109197
Type
journal article