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This work investigates the competitive adsorption under dynamic and equilibrium conditions of ibuprofen (IBU) and amoxicillin (AMX), two widely consumed pharmaceuticals, on nanoporous carbons of different characteristics. Batch adsorption experiments of pure components in water and their binary mixtures were carried out to measure both adsorption equilibrium and kinetics, and dynamic tests were performed to validate the simultaneous removal of the mixtures in breakthrough experiments. The equilibrium adsorption capacities evaluated from pure component solutions were higher than those measured in dynamic conditions, and were found to depend on the porous features of the adsorbent and the nature of the specific/dispersive interactions that are controlled by the solution pH, density of surface change on the carbon and ionization of the pollutant. A marked roll-up effect was observed for AMX retention on the hydrophobic carbons, not seen for the functionalized adsorbent likely due to the lower affinity of amoxicillin towards the carbon adsorbent. Dynamic adsorption of binary mixtures from wastewater of high salinity and alkalinity showed a slight increase in IBU uptake and a reduced adsorption of AMX, demonstrating the feasibility of the simultaneous removal of both compounds from complex water matrices.

An unpublished low-cost industrial biomass waste, pomegranate peel, as alternative and sustainable fuel source was studied. A horizontal tubular furnace of original design for conventional and flash pyrolysis was carried out. The bio-char yields from both processes were similar, but the bio-oil and bio-gas yields were higher in flash pyrolysis, depending on the temperature. The bio-char obtained show that it could be used as a fuel (higher heating values ≥ 28.0MJ/kg) and as a potential precursor of activated carbon. It was also found that the lower temperature of the flash pyrolysis was, the greater the bio-oil yield (~53%) and that the higher was, the greater the biogas yield (~50%). The bio-oil from conventional pyrolysis has a predominantly furanic nature and contained significant amounts of the phenols and benzenes. In contrast, the bio-oil from flash pyrolysis is similar to that of "anthracene oil", both of them being composed mainly of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The bio-gas obtained by flash pyrolysis is of a higher quality than that obtained by conventional pyrolysis because it has a lower CO content (32.4% vs 66.6%) and higher syngas content (CO + H 2 ) (50.8% vs 26.8%). Flash pyrolysis is better in CH 4 production (11.6% vs 4.6%).

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