Enhanced catalytic degradation of tetracycline antibiotic by persulfate activated with modified sludge bio-hydrochar

In this research, a one-pot prepared modified sludge bio-hydrochar (IBHC) was prepared to activate persulfate (PS) for the degradation of tetracycline (TC) antibiotic. The obtained IBHC bearing defect structure, dispersed iron and large amounts of surface organic functional groups, acts as an outstanding modified biomass carbonaceous material for catalyzing PS to improve the removal efficiency of TC as high as 99.72%. The IBHC + PS system can remove TC effectively with a relative low IBHC dosage (0.2 g·L −1 ), limited PS consumption (5 mmol·L −1 ) and wide pH values (2–10). In addition, the degradation of TC still keep in 94.70% after 5 rounds reuse proving that IBHC possesses excellent stability and practicability. During the activation, both and • OH were generated and the contribution of each component on the TC degradation in IBHC + PS system was explored. Furthermore, the degradation pathways of TC were proposed based on the results of LC-MS.