Degradation of thiamphenicol by La-Fe2O3/DBD/HCP synergistic catalytic system

Abstract

In this study, a highly efficient La-Fe₂O₃/dielectric barrier discharge (DBD)/honeycomb ceramic plate synergistic catalytic system was successfully constructed by using modified iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) catalyst coating assisted DBD plasma, and the prepared catalytic coating was fully characterized by various techniques. The results indicate that the lanthanum (La) is efficiently and uniformly doped in Fe₂O₃, and the modified La-Fe₂O₃ catalyst exhibited a better photocatalytic performance. The overuse of Thiamphenicol (TAP), as a typical chloramphenicol antibiotic, has led to its accumulation in the aquatic environment. Accordingly, TAP was selected as the target contaminant to evaluate the catalytic activity of the synergistic system. The results confirmed that the catalytic ability of the synergistic catalytic system was significantly improved, and the data showed that the degradation rate of the synergistic system reached 99.1% under the same conditions compared with 68.2% for the single DBD plasma, which effectively improved low energy efficiency limitations of the single DBD technology. Through quantitative measurements of the concentrations of dissolved ozone (O₃) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the system and radical trapping experiments, combined with emission spectroscopy, the mechanism of synergistic system degradation of TAP was analyzed. The intermediates in the degradation process were characterized by high-resolution mass spectrometry, and the degradation pathway of TAP was proposed based on the analysis of the intermediates and their combination with theoretical calculations. This study presents a theoretical basis for the improvement of DBD technology and a technical guide for the removal process of antibiotics from industrial wastewater.