Fine‐tuned perovskite hollow fiber reactor for efficient degradation of ciprofloxacin

Abstract Over the past few decades, various techniques have been developed for wastewater treatment, among which advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) mediated by transition metal oxide catalysts have received growing attention due to their high efficiency in refractory organic pollutant removal and low toxicity. However, transition metal oxides generally induce secondary contaminations by metal leaching and suffer from poor reusability. Herein, guided by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, a novel hollow fibre reactor fabricated with perovskite‐type La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3‐ δ (LSCF) was developed to minimize metal leaching and maximize the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the removal of ciprofloxacin (CIP, at 20 mg·L −1 ) in wastewater. CIP was wholly degraded after 75 min, and the efficacy of the catalytic process was significantly impacted by both temperature and pH at the onset of the catalytic process. The AOP mechanism was further investigated through electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), whereby the active species, e.g., sulfate radicals, singlet oxygen, and hydroxyl, were directly detected. Moreover, the element leaching from the catalytic ceramic hollow‐fibre reactor during the aqueous‐phase AOP was also investigated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and inductively coupled plasma‐atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP‐AES). This catalytic LSCF hollow‐fibre reactor demonstrates excellent pollutant degradation with significantly reduced secondary contaminations, which holds promise for further industrial applications.