Electrochemical degradation of antivirus drug lamivudine formulation: photoelectrocoagulation, peroxi-electrocoagulation, and peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation processes

This study evaluates the performance of photoelectrocoagulation, peroxi-electrocoagulation, and peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation for the removal of the antiviral drug lamivudine formulation from wastewater by a stainless-steel electrode. To investigate matrix effects for this oxidation process, the influence of substrates such as urea and simulated wastewater (SWW) was studied. Moreover, degradation kinetics and energy efficiency are also discussed. Results indicate that the removal efficiency was in the order of peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation > peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation (in the presence of urea) > peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation (in the presence of SWW) > peroxi-electrocoagulation > photoelectrocoagulation. In peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation, the 96% degradation of lamivudine formulation indicates a nearly complete degradation of lamivudine. In this process, the presence of urea and SWW resulted in a substantial reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) decay. Kinetic studies using linear pseudo-first and pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics showed that the pseudo-first-order equation effectively described the removal of lamivudine formulation. The highest energy consumption per kgCOD decay (i.e., kWh kgCOD(- 1)) was obtained for the photoelectrocoagulation process, while the lowest energy consumption was obtained for peroxi-electrocoagulation, for all electrolysis times. The peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation process was shown to be an effective and energy-efficient technique for removing the antiviral drug lamivudine formulation from wastewater. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

The study found that peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation was the most effective method for removing lamivudine formulation, followed by peroxi-photoelectrocoagulation (in the presence of urea) and peroxi-electrocoagulation. The presence of urea and simulated wastewater resulted in a significant reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) decay during the process.