Photocatalytic Degradation of Efavirenz in Wastewater Effluents Using a Hybrid TiO2-Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymer
摘要
Efavirenz has been frequently detected in wastewater effluents which poses health hazards to human beings and the aquatic organisms that may rely on the rivers and dams that receive the polluted effluents. This study reports the synthesis of titania nanoparticles embedded on a magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP/TiO2) as a photocatalyst for the degradation of efavirenz in wastewater effluents and river water samples. The hybrid MMIP/TiO2 was synthesized via bulk polymerization of p-vinylbenzoic acid in the presence of TiO2, magnetite and efavirenz as a template. Pareto charts from factorial designs observed that during the photodegradation process, the initial concentration of efavirenz was more important than the mass of MMIP/TiO2 and time of irradiation. Optimum degradation was observed for minimal mass of MMIP/TiO2 (5 mg) within 15 min of irradiation while efficiencies increased with increase in initial concentration of efavirenz in both wastewater effluents and river water. Irradiation was done using light of 365 nm wavelength after 40 min contact time to ensure efavirenz gets adsorbed onto the polymer cavities before irradiation. The maximum adsorption capacity of the MMIP/TiO2 in wastewater effluent was 176 ± 3.00 µg g− 1 while in river water it was 158 ± 4.92 µg g− 1. High degradation efficiencies up to 95% were observed for efavirenz in river water and 99% in wastewater effluents. The photodegraded could be removed from solution after degradation using an external magnetic field. The results of the study show that photodegradation using the MMIP/TiO2 could be a solution for remediation of efavirenz from wastewater effluents.