A Taguchi approach with electron-beam irradiation to optimize the efficiency of removing enrofloxacin from aqueous media

Electron-beam (EB) irradiation was employed to degrade enrofloxacin (ENR) in an aqueous solution. The algal growth inhibition test revealed that ENR exhibited low toxicity against the cyanobacterium Arthrospira sp., with an EC 50 -96 h value of 5.17 mg/L. The Taguchi design also involved finding the best optimum for ENR treatment using EB. Results revealed that the high-efficiency removal of ENR in an aqueous solution was approximately 98.53% under the optimum conditions of an absorbed dose of 5 kGy, a pH of 5.0, and an initial ENR concentration of 10 mg/L and an H 2 O 2 concentration of 2mM. The ERR degradation under a couple of EB irradiation and H 2 O 2 followed pseudo-first-order kinetics, with an R 2 of ∼0.970. The major degradation pathways of ENR were suggested by density functional theory, natural bond orbital calculations, and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) analysis. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was also performed to evaluate the impact of the EB on removing ENR; the industrial process was designed based on laboratory tests aimed with the ReCiPe tool. The obtained results indicated that energy consumption and H 2 O 2 affect environmental impacts with order human health, ecology systems, and natural resource. The LCA also proved that EB could be a green and efficient method for eliminating pharmaceutical contaminants in water.