A non-steroidal drug “diclofenac” is a substrate for Electrochemical degradation process

Abstract In electrochemical degradation process, the elimination of organic pollutants could be enhanced using supporting electrolyte and increasing applied voltage. After degradation of organic compound some by-products are formed. Chlorinated products are the main products generated in the presence of sodium chloride. In the present study, diclofenac (DCF) has been electrochemically treated using graphite as anode and sodium chloride (NaCl) as a supporting electrolyte. Monitoring the removal and elucidation the by-products were provided using HPLC and LC-TOF/MS, respectively. High removal% of 94% DCF was observed under conditions: 0.5 g NaCl, 5 volt and 80 min of electrolysis while chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal% was 88% under same conditions but 360 min of electrolysis. Pseudo-first order rate constant values were quite varied based on the selected experimental conditions; the ranges of rate constants were 0.0062–0.054 mni− 1, 0.0024–0.0326 min− 1 under influence of applied voltage and sodium chloride, respectively. The maximum values of consumption energy were 0.93 and 0.55 Wh/mg using 0.1 g NaCl and 7 volt, respectively. Some chlorinated transformed products were selected and elucidated which were C13H18Cl2NO5, C11H10Cl3NO4 and C13H13Cl5NO5 using LC-TOF/MS.