Photodegradation of acetaminophen and ibuprofen in iron supported in SBA-15 under UV irradiation

[Display omitted] •Preparation of iron supported SBA-15 catalysts (2FeSBA-15, 5FeSBA-15 and 10FeSBA-15) by the incipient volume impregnation method.•They are easily removable, non-toxic, and relatively cheap.•The rate of photocatalytic degradation was 99% for ACE and IBP at 60–40 min of reaction with the 5FeSBA-15 catalyst + H2O2.•Physicochemical parameters were performed to obtain the best reaction conditions.•The study of radical inhibitors was carried out to obtain the degradation mechanism. In this research, the photodegradation of Acetaminophen and (RS)-2-(4-isobutylphenyl)propanoic acid was evaluated by the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process using solid catalysts of iron nitrate (Fe(NO3)3) supported on mesoporous silica type SBA-15 under UV irradiation. This study began with the synthesis of the SBA-15 support and then by the preparation of the iron salt catalysts by means of the impregnation method at incipient volume and subsequently they were calcined. Afterwards, its chemical characterization, chemical composition, specific surface area and morphology were carried out by Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, this result confirms the presence of iron incorporated in the support, low-angle X-ray diffractograms are observed to show a diffraction peak (100), which indicates that the material has a structure mesoporous similar to SBA-15, the textural characterization will be obtained from the adsorption–desorption isotherms of N2 at −196.15 °C, Infrared Spectroscopy with Fourier transform, Spectroscopy Ultraviolet Visible by Diffuse Reflectance it is observed that the samples of 2FeSBA-15 and 5FeSBA-15 present higher percentages of isolated species of Fe3+ and the photocatalytic study, determination of nitrates, it is observed that the 5FeSBA-15 catalyst in the presence of H2O2 was the best for drugs degradation, being 99 % for Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen at 60 and 40 min of reaction respectively. The study of radical inhibitors was carried out, observing that hydroxyl radicals are the most active species in the degradation of both drugs, variations were made in the effect of Fe loading, initial concentration, amount of catalyst, temperature, pH, amount of H2O2, in order to obtain the best reaction conditions, a number of five cycles were carried out with each of the drugs. This proj