Improved hydrodynamic cavitation device with expanded orifice plate for effective chlorotetracycline degradation: Optimization of device and operation parameters

The chlorotetracycline degradation is carried out by using hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) method. The effects of device parameters such as diameter (X) of orifice distribution region, length (Y) of orifice plate inlet region and length (Z) of orifice plate outlet region are investigated to obtain a strong HC effect. The effects of inlet pressure, solution pH, initial chlorotetracycline concentration, inorganic anions, metal ions and added H2O2 on chlorotetracycline HC degradation are also studied. The TOC analysis of treated solution under optimum conditions is performed to identify the mineralization extent. The intermediate products during chlorotetracycline degradation are detected by using LC-MS. For optimized device parameters (X = 32 mm, Y = 100 mm and Z = 200 mm), the degradation ratios of chlorotetracycline can reach up to 78.53% and 94.65%, respectively, in HC and HC + H2O2 systems for 3.0 bar inlet pressure, 10 mg/L initial concentration and pH = 7.0.