The removal of micropollutants in wastewater treatment plants (WTTPs) is a challenging issue which requires the development of effective but also green and low-cost strategies. In this work, we explore the capability of naturally-occurring magnetite combined with H₂O₂ for the degradation of the highly persistent antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX). A complete operating condition study has been performed to evaluate the effect of initial pH (3–7), temperature (15–50 °C), magnetite concentration (0.5–2 g L⁻¹) and H₂O₂ dose (12.5–100 mg L⁻¹), using an initial SMX amount of 5 mg L⁻¹. Remarkably, complete removal of the target pollutant and the aromatic intermediates was achieved operating under ambient-like conditions (25 °C) and circumneutral pH (pH₀ = 5) using the stoichiometric dose of H₂O₂ (25 mg L⁻¹) and a catalyst load of 1 g L⁻¹. The mineralization yield was above 50%, being the final oxidation products short-chain organic acids. The oxidation pathway of SMX was accordingly proposed. The stability of magnetite was confirmed upon three sequential runs, where a similar catalytic activity and negligible iron leaching (<0.15% wt) were observed. As a proof of concept, the performance of the catalytic system was also evaluated in different real aqueous matrices, such as WWTP effluent, surface water and hospital wastewater. Although the catalyst did not show any sign of deactivation, partial inhibition of the oxidation reaction was observed due to scavenging effects.

废水处理厂（WTTP）中微量污染物的去除是一个具有挑战性的问题，需要开发有效但又绿色和低成本的策略。在这项工作中，我们探索了天然磁铁矿与H ₂ O ₂结合对高持久性抗生素磺胺甲恶唑（SMX）降解的能力。已经进行了完整的运行条件研究，以评估初始pH（3–7），温度（15–50°C），磁铁矿浓度（0.5–2 g L ^-1）和H ₂ O ₂剂量（12.5–25）的影响。 100 mg L ^-1），使用5 mg L ^-1的初始SMX量。值得注意的是， 使用化学计量剂量的H ₂ O ₂（25 mg L ^-1）在类似环境的条件（25°C）和环境pH（pH ₀ = 5）下操作，可以完全除去目标污染物和芳族中间体。催化剂负载为1 g L ^-1。矿化率在50％以上，是最终的氧化产物短链有机酸。据此提出了SMX的氧化途径。在三个连续运行中证实了磁铁矿的稳定性，其中观察到相似的催化活性和可忽略的铁浸出（<0.15％wt）。作为概念的证明，还对不同的实际水性基质（例如污水处理厂废水，地表水和医院废水）中的催化系统性能进行了评估。尽管催化剂没有显示出任何失活的迹象，但是由于清除作用，观察到了氧化反应的部分抑制。