Photocatalytic Deterioration of Tylosin in an Aqueous Suspension Using UV/TiO2

This study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of a photocatalysis oxidation system for pharmaceutical pollutants treatment. Oxidative degradation of tylosin by hydroxyl radicals (OH) was studied in aqueous medium using suspended forms of TiO2 (Degussa P-25) under UVA (365 nm) irradiation light. The results showed that the degradation of tylosin was affected by many factors. The optimum rate of photodegradation was obtained with a flow rate and a catalyst coating equal to 3.78 mL/s and 0.05 g/L respectively. And the rate of photodegradation was found to increase when the tylosin concentration decreases from 30 to 5 mg/L. In addition, it was shown that the tylosin degradation followed the first-order kinetics and the reaction rate was well fitted with Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. The removal ratio of tylosin was 97% in less than 60 minutes. Thus, the UV/TiO2 photocatalysis process is very efficient and can be suggested for the degradation of tylosin in aqueous solution.