Aquatic Ecology and Water Environment Safety

CLC number: X703

UV-Cu/Mn-Zeolite Heterogeneous Fenton Method for Degradation of Sulfamethoxazole

UV-沸石负载Cu/Mn双金属非均相Fenton法降解磺胺甲恶唑

¹ College of Environment and Ecology, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China (重庆大学　环境与生态学院，重庆　400045)
² Department of Chemistry , Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA (美国杜克大学　化学系，北卡罗来纳　达勒姆 27708)
³ School of Engineering, University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Prince George V2N4Z9, British Columbia, Canada (加拿大北英属哥伦比亚大学　工程学院，不列颠哥伦比亚省　乔治王子城　V2N4Z9)

^† Corresponding author. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 26 June 2025

Abstract

Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and other antibiotics pose significant risks to humans and the environment even at trace concentrations, whereas conventional physicochemical and biological degradation methods are often ineffective. This study employed an integrated strategy combining photocatalysis with heterogeneous Fenton technology for SMX removal, and compared the removal efficiency of the UV-H₂O₂ and the UV-zeolite-supported Cu/Mn bimetallic heterogeneous Fenton method. The results demonstrate that the catalytic activity is primarily influenced by the calcination temperature, followed by the calcination time and the Cu/Mn molar ratio in the impregnation solution. The optimal catalyst is prepared with a Cu/Mn molar ratio of 2∶1 and calcined at 300 ℃ for 3 h. In the catalyst, copper and manganese exist primarily as CuO, Cu₂O, Cu/Mn oxides, and MnO₂/Mn₃O₄. At pH=7.2 and an initial SMX concentration of 20 mg/L, the optimized UV-Cu /Mn-zeolite heterogeneous Fenton system with 0.15 g/L catalyst and 7.5 mmol/L H₂O₂ achieved a 77.3% SMX removal rate. This represents a 15.1% improvement over the conventional UV-H₂O₂ process, and the degradation follows pseudo-first-order kinetics. Metal leaching remained below 0.5 mg/L after 90-min reaction, and the catalyst lost less than 5% of its initial activity after four reuse cycles.

摘要

磺胺甲恶唑(Sulfamethoxazole ，SMX)等抗生素在低浓度下即可对人类和环境产生危害，单纯采用物化、生化技术降解效果不佳。本文采用光催化与非均相Fenton技术结合的方式对SMX进行处理，并比较了UV-H₂O₂和UV-沸石负载Cu/Mn双金属非均相Fenton法对SMX的去除效果。结果表明，焙烧温度、焙烧时长、浸渍液Cu/Mn摩尔比对催化剂活性的影响程度依次降低。在Cu/Mn摩尔比2∶1，焙烧温度300 ℃，焙烧时长3 h条件下制备的催化剂性能最佳。催化剂中Cu和Mn分别主要以CuO、Cu₂O、Cu/Mn氧化物和MnO₂、Mn₃O₄等形式存在。在pH=7.2、初始SMX浓度为20 mg/L，催化剂最优投加量为0.15 g/L，H₂O₂最优投加量为7.5 mmol/L时，UV-沸石负载Cu/Mn双金属非均相Fenton法对SMX的去除率为77.3%，相比UV-H₂O₂法增加了15.1%，其降解过程符合一级反应动力学方程。反应90 min催化剂的金属析出量均低于0.5 mg/L，经过四次重复利用，其活性下降不到5%，具有良好的稳定性。