Photocatalytic oxidation of ciprofloxacin under simulated sunlight.

Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a famous synthetic chemotherapeutic antibiotic. It is widely found either in water or wastewater. In this study ciprofloxacin was photocatalytically degraded using commercial anatase titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) under simulated sunlight. The rate of reaction was found to be affected by pH, TiO(2) concentration and antibiotic concentration. The best reaction rate was obtained in natural ciprofloxacin pH (5.8) and 1000 mg/L TiO(2). More titania concentration was found to reduce the reaction rate because of the limitation in light transmittance. From kinetic studies, the reaction was proved to proceed through adsorption step then photooxidation and obeys pseudo-first order kinetics.