Elimination of amoxicillin using zeolite Y-sea salt as a good catalyst for activation of hydrogen peroxide: Investigating degradation pathway and the effect of wastewater chemistry

Abstract The sea contains elements that can play a useful role in catalyzing reactions. Therefore, this research was done to focus on eliminating amoxicillin (AMX) from wastewater utilizing zeolite Y- sea salt catalyst in the presence of H2O2. The influences of furnace temperature (200–500 °C) and time duration in the furnace (1–4 h) were optimized during catalyst generation. Also, the effects of different parameters on AMX removal, such as pH (5.0–9.0), catalyst dose (0–10 g.L−1), AMX concentration (50–300 mg.L−1), contact time (10–130 min), and H2O2 concentration (0–6 mL/100 mL distilled water) were investigated. Different analyses like Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were conducted to reveal catalyst properties. The BET-specific surface area of the catalyst (12.69 m2g−1) insignificantly (p-value > 0.05) changed after AMX removal (13.04 m2g−1), indicating the strength of the prepared catalyst. The active groups of N–H, O–H–O, O–Si–O, C–H, Si–O–Si, and Si–O–Al were determined in the catalyst structure. The highest removal of AMX (93%) was achieved in the zeolite-sea salt/H2O2 system at a pH level of 6.0 and an H2O2 concentration of 0.1 mL/100 mL. Elimination of the AMX followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The catalyst was reclaimed up to 7 times and the removal efficiency was suitable up to the fifth stage. The by-products and reaction pathways were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that zeolite-sea salt can be utilized as an H2O2 activator for the effective degradation of AMX from wastewater.