Treatment of Pharmaceutical Effluent by Sono‐Fenton‐Sorption

This study presents the treatment of a high strength pharmaceutical wastewater by sono‐Fenton‐sorption (SFS). Better results were observed with SFS compared to individual processes and the maximum chemical oxygen demand reduction observed after 180 min of treatment with SFS, sono‐Fenton, and sono‐sorption was 71.9, 48.4, and 43.75%, respectively. The effect of parameters such as initial concentration, dosage of Fenton's reagent, sorbent dosage, and pattern of addition of iron on the performance of SFS was analyzed. The sonosorption and SFS were found to fit well with Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics. Fourier transformed IR studies of effluent and sorbent before and after treatment confirmed the oxidative degradation of pharmaceutical effluent. Toxicity of the effluent was considerably reduced after the treatment and the electrical energy consumption was significantly reduced, when sonolysis was coupled with sorption and Fenton's process (SFS).