Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

Background and Objectives: Surface water and groundwater pollution can cause health problems for human. Antibiotics have special importance due to inducing bacterial resistance in a way that even in low concentrations can cause drug resistance. Ciprofloxacin is one of the antibiotics that various remediation methods have been, up to now, applied for. The objective of this study was to investigate ciprofloxacin removal efficiency from aqueous solutions by using CuO nanoparticles photocatalytic process.

Materials and Methods: In this laboratory study, the effects of pH (3-11), nanoparticle dose (0.1-0.01 g/L), reaction time (15-120 minutes), initial antibiotic concentration (10-200 mg/L) and lamp power (8 watts) were assessed on ciprofloxacin removal efficiency in a batch photocatalytic reactor. Antibiotic concentration in output was measured by the spectrophotometer (LUV-100A) at the maximum wave length of 276 nm.

Results: the optimum obtained pH and CuO nanoparticle dose were 7 and 0.7 g/lit respectively. In this study, at the optimum reaction time of 60 min, by increasing the concentration of ciprofloxacin the removal efficiency decreased. Under optimal conditions of concentration, the removal efficiency was 73%.

Conclusion: On the basis of the obtained results, it can be concluded that CuO nanoparticles photocatalytic process can efficiently remove ciprofloxacin from aqueous solutions.

Key word: photocatalytic degradation, ciprofloxacin, CuO nanoparticle, antibiotic

Funding: This research was funded by Research Committee of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences approved the study

How to cite this article: F. Kord Mostafapour, E. Bazrafshan, D. Belarak, N. Khoshnamvand. Survey of Photo Catalytic Degradation of Ciprofloxacin Antibiotic Using Copper Oxide Nano Particle (UV / CuO) in Aqueous Environment. J Rafsanjan Univ Med Sci 2016; 15(4): 307-18. [Farsi]