Induced electro-fenton process with a new electrochemical reactor design for tetracycline degradation

Induced electro-Fenton (I-EF) process is one of electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) that had been recently used to treat various types of wastewaters. In the present work, a new design of I-EF was adopted to remove tetracycline (TC) from a simulated wastewater. It was composed of a graphite/SnO₂-Sb₂O₃ anode, a flow-through induced electrode with iron screens, and an air diffusion cathode. Response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to investigate the effect of current density (5-15 mA/cm²), pH (3-7), and initial concentration (25-75 mg/L) on the removal efficiency (RE %) of TC using one iron screen induced electrode. The results showed that pH has the main impact on RE % with 43.19 % as contribution percent followed by initial concentration then current density. The optimum conditions were a current density of 5 mA/cm², pH of 6.3 and an initial concentration of 25 mg/L where RE % of 95.48 % was achieved within 60 min which claimed an electrical energy consumption of 0.392 kWh/m³. Increasing the number of screens in the induced electrode resulted in achieving higher RE % (97.6 %) under the same optimum conditions with an energy consumption of 0.476 kWh/m³. The adoption of I-EF with a flow-through induced electrode can be considered as an effective and successful method for treating pharmaceutical wastewater.