Degradation of gemfibrozil in aqueous solutions by gas–liquid dielectric barrier discharge plasma combined with CNTs/γFe₂O₃

Abstract The degradation effects and mechanism on gemfibrozil (GEM) in aqueous solution by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma combined with the catalyst CNTs/γFe 2 O 3 are investigated. The concentrations of plasma‐generated reactive species, including H 2 O 2 , O 3 , , and OH, are measured with spectrophotometric and fluorescent probes. The effects of the plasma treatment period, discharge power, initial GEM concentration, solution pH value, conductivity, and the catalytic property are studied on the degradation rate and energy efficiency. Compared with the sole plasma treatment, CNTs/γFe 2 O 3 could maximally improve the GEM degradation rate and energy efficiency to 99.7% ± 0.2% and 76.5 ± 5.2 mg·kW −1 ·h −1 , respectively. The solution's total organic carbon removal efficiency has been increased to 47.2% ± 2.7%. Meanwhile, the possible degradation pathways of the plasma‐treated GEM solution and overall biological toxicity of GEM degradation intermediates and residual catalyst in solution are investigated.