Photodegradation of tetracycline and sulfathiazole individually and in mixtures

Seong Ho Yun, Eun Hea Jho, Seulki Jeong, Soobin Choi, Youngjoo Kal, Sangwon Cha

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Antibiotics in environment can be of concern as they can enter the food chain posing risks to ecosystems and human health. Photodegradation has been considered as a promising way of naturally degrading antibiotics in environment. Antibiotics are usually present in mixtures in environment; however, previous studies focused on individual compounds. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of UV irradiation on the degradation of tetracycline (TC) and sulfathiazole (STH) in individual solutions and mixtures. Under dark conditions, the initial masses of TC and STH were reduced by about 35% and 26%, respectively, over a 35 d-reaction period. With UV irradiation TC and STH were completely removed within 14 d and 35 d, respectively, regardless of the initial concentrations. Both the TC and STH removals were faster (i.e., 2–4 times) when they were in mixtures. This may be partly attributed to the byproducts such as sulfate that can promote indirect photolysis and partly to the enhanced hydrolysis due to changes in the solution pH. Overall, this study suggests that when photodegradation is used to remove antibiotics in water, the removal kinetics of antibiotics individually and in mixtures can be considered to develop more efficient treatment technologies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)108-113
Number of pages6
JournalFood and Chemical Toxicology
Volume116
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Antibiotics mixture
  • Photodegradation
  • Sulfathiazole
  • Tetracyclines
  • UV

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Photodegradation of tetracycline and sulfathiazole individually and in mixtures'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this