Metformin Mineralization via an Fe-PILC-Catalyzed Photo-Fenton Reaction Driven by UV and Visible Light

The presence of various drugs in wastewater has generated growing concern about the contamination of water bodies. This requires urgent attention and the development of effective methods for their degradation in aquatic ecosystems. The present study evaluates the efficiency of metformin (MET) degradation via various photochemical processes—photolysis, H2O2 photodecomposition, photocatalysis, and photo-Fenton—using iron-pillared bentonite clays (Fe-PILC) as a catalyst. The influence of radiation wavelength (254 nm and visible light) was investigated, while MET degradation, H2O2 consumption, and total organic carbon (TOC) removal were monitored as key response variables. Structural characterization confirmed successful pillaring, increasing the surface area of bentonite from 35 to 246 m2/g, with iron content at 11 wt. % quantified by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Fe3O4 and FeO were identified using XPS, and a 2.08 eV band-gap energy was revealed via diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Experiments were conducted at environmentally relevant MET concentrations (13,000 ng L−1) in a 0.1 L batch photoreactor at 25 °C. The results demonstrate that (i) photo-Fenton was the most efficient process to remove and mineralize MET (100% degradation after 10 min and 83% mineralization after 90 min); (ii) Fe-PILC is effectively activated at λ < 700 nm, enabling 75% mineralization under visible light; (iii) hydroxyl radicals and valence band holes were the primary oxidative species driving MET oxidation; and (iv) cyanoguanidine and carboxylic acids were identified as main oxidation by-products via UHPLC. Pseudo-first-order kinetic constants were determined for all processes, offering insight into their relative efficiencies. Notably, the rate constant for photo-Fenton under visible light (0.406 min−1) was comparable to that under UV -light (0.545 min−1), highlighting the potential of visible light-driven treatments. Therefore, this study demonstrated the metformin degradation capability of iron-pillared clays under both visible and UV light.