Processos eletrolíticos aplicados na remoção de fármacos antibióticos em meio aquoso: mapeamento sistemático da literatura

Abstract

The treatment of pharmacological contaminants, such as antibiotics, represents a challenge for public health and the environment. This study aims to systematically map articles in which electrolytic processes are applied as a treatment technique for the removal of antimicrobials in aqueous media. The PubMed and Google Scholar databases were selected as the research source. Keywords and inclusion criteria were applied to identify and select the reported articles. Thus, a set of twenty articles that comprised systematic mapping were obtained. Data regarding the year of publication, type of electrolytic process, antibiotic studied, electrode used, support electrolyte, pH range evaluated, and efficiency were extracted from these productions. The research revealed that the largest number of publications occurred from 2019 to 2022. The types of electrolytic processes most used for antimicrobials were electrocoagulation and oxidation-electrochemistry. Antibiotics of the quinolone class were the most tested, with emphasis on ciprofloxacin. Furthermore, as a supporting electrolyte, research indicated the majority use of sodium sulfate, and the most frequent pH range was 5 to 8. Electrodes containing structures ranging from simple ones, such as those made of iron and aluminum, to sophisticated electrodes composed of nanomaterials and more noble metals, were identified. In terms of efficiency, it can be concluded that the field of electrolytic processes and their combinations is a broad space for future research aimed at exploring their potential around advanced treatments applied to pharmacological contaminants such as antibiotics.