Resumen
Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) contamination in large quantities of wastewater can cause potential environmental problems. Due to difficulty in degrading SMX by natural processes, it is necessary to develop a novel technology to solve this problem. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been identified as methods with a high potential to treat recalcitrant organic pollutants. The nanoscale schwertmannite (nano-SWT) was prepared with an indoor-temperature synthesis method facilitated by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). In this study, we performed a reaction of the nano-SWT materials with Fenton-like catalysts for SMX degradation in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) media. The findings showed that the nano-SWT prepared by addition of 0.1 g·L-1 PVP (nano-SWT-n, n = 0.1) could degrade 92.5% of the SMX within 90 min at indoor temperature, which was due to the nano-SWT providing abundant reaction sites at the solid/solution interfaces. Additionally, SMX could be highly mineralized with 75% TOC removal and H2O2 was efficiently utilized during the nano-SWT/H2O2 process. In addition, after six cycles of Fenton-like degradation, the nano-SWT remained stable and reusable as a Fenton-like catalyst for SMX degradation. The nano-SWT performed well as a catalyst for SMX degradation. Additionally, this work provides a feasible environmental purification approach for the efficient degradation of SMX through the use of nanoscale schwertmannite as a catalyst in heterogeneous Fenton-like systems.