In recent years, scientists in the field of environmental management and protection, have not only detected but also quantified a large number of pharmaceuticals in treated wastewater, surface and groundwater. In order to address this problem, intensive research is carried out to develop effective water treatment technologies, including Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs).
In the present study, LaSrNiGaO3, a perovskite oxide, is used as heterogeneous catalyst to activate sodium persulfate (SPS) for sulfamethoxazole (SMX), an antibiotic agent, degradation. It was found that simultaneous use of SPS and LaSrNiGaO3 led to complete degradation of 0.5 mg/L SMX in 60 min. The effect of different experimental parameters as well as water matrix effect on SMX degradation are studied in detail.