Mechanism of Ampicillin Degradation by Non-Thermal Plasma Treatment with FE-DBD

Abstract This research focused on determining the effectiveness of non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma as an alternative to advanced oxidation processes (AOP) for antibiotic removal in solution. For this study, 20 mM (6.988 g/L) solutions of ampicillin were treated with a floating electrode dielectric barrier discharge (FE-DBD) plasma for varying treatment times. The treated solutions were analyzed primarily using mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The preliminary product formed was Ampicillin Sulfoxide, however, many more species are formed as plasma treatment time is increased. Ampicillin was completely eliminated after five minutes of air-plasma treatment. The primary mechanism of ampicillin degradation by plasma treatment is investigated in this study. View Full-Tex