Fast Degradation of Tetracycline and Ciprofloxacin in Municipal Water under Hydrodynamic Cavitation/Plasma with CeO[sub.2] Nanocatalyst

Although water contamination with drug residues is a threat to public health, there are currently barely any effective methods of purifying water from pharmaceutical substances. In this study, continuous-flow sonoplasma treatment was used for the complete degradation of tetracycline and ciprofloxacin in polluted municipal water. The addition of CeO[sub.2] nanoparticles as catalysts significantly increased the degradation rate of the antibiotics, and a degradation degree of 70% was achieved. The presence of reactive oxygen species in the CeO[sub.2]-nanoparticle-containing sonoplasma-treated system was experimentally proven for the first time using the chemiluminescence technique.