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Photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of albendazole

Pharmaceuticals are group of compounds used for treating and preventing diseases in humans and animals. Their growing use worldwide, the so- called emerging contaminants, has become a new environmental problem, which has great concern among scientists in the last decade. Pharmaceuticals are complex molecules with different physicochemical and biological properties and functionalities. They are designed to be biologically active and therefore they might negatively affect non- target living organisms. The widespread occurrence of these compounds in the environment was proven through many researches. They are present in the environment in ng/L concentrations but it does not diminish their effect on the environment. Many studies showed that the main point of collection and subsequent release of pharmaceuticals into the environment are wastewater treatment plants, suggesting that their upgrade and implementation of advanced treatment technologies are required. One of the possible solutions is the use of advanced oxidation processes (AOP) as additional treatment step. Therefore this work presents photolytic and photocatalytic degradation of albendazole. In the experiments with UV-C radiation both photolytic and photocatalytic degradation processes occur, whereas with UV-A radiation only photocatalytic treatment was driven. Results obtained using UV-A are not optimal but they have a potential for practical use because of natural UV-A radiation. Using this type of radiation would lower the overall cost of the treatment. The samples were collected in defined time intervals during each experiment and analyzed using liquid chromatography.

anthelmintic ; photocatalysis ; liquid chromatography

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