Insight into advanced oxidation processes for the degradation of fluoroquinolone antibiotics: Removal, mechanism, and influencing factors

The enrichment and transport of antibiotics in the environments pose many potential hazards to aquatic animals and humans, which has become one of the public health challenges worldwide. As a widely used class of antibiotics, fluoroquinolones (FQs) generally accumulated in the environments as traditional sewage treatment plants cannot completely remove them. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been shown to be a promising method for the abatement of antibiotic contamination. In this review, influencing factors and relevant mechanisms of FQs removal by various AOPs were summarized. Compared with other AOPs, photocatalytic ozone may be considered as a cost-effective method for degrading FQs. Finally, the benefits and application restrictions of AOPs were discussed, along with proposed research directions to provide new insights into the control of FQs pollutant via AOPs in practical applications.