Degradation of acyclovir by sustainable glasses obtained from natural water treatment sludges

Sustainable glasses prepared from water treatment sludges (WTS) have been further enriched with Fe 2 O 3 and investigated in terms of their catalytic activity for the degradation of the drug molecule Acyclovir. The effect of ZnO 2 and Fe 2 O 3 has been evaluated at different pH, H 2 O 2 concentration and glass dosage. No degradation activity was detected in the glasses where Fe 2 O 3 and/or ZnO are absent, while the glass with the highest Fe 2 O 3 concentration has shown the most efficiency. According to the characterization of the glass bulk and surface, as well as the leached ions during the catalytic reaction, the Fenton degradation reaction was found to be homogeneous - heterogeneous type. The homogeneous Fenton reaction occurs because of the leaching of some Fe ions from the glass matrix, which occurred in the first moments after the H 2 O 2 was incorporated to the solution. A congruent leaching behaviour was observed for all ions except Fe and P.