Adsorption of pharmaceuticals from biologically treated municipal wastewater using paper mill sludge-based activated carbon

Abstract

43A waste-based alternative activated carbon (AAC) was produced from paper mill sludge 44 under optimized conditions. Aiming its application in tertiary wastewater treatment, 45 AAC was used for the removal of carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole and paroxetine 46 from biologically treated municipal wastewater. Kinetic and equilibrium adsorption 47 experiments were run under batch operation conditions. For comparison purposes, they 48 were also performed in ultrapure water and using a high-performance commercial AC 49 (CAC). Adsorption kinetics was fast for the three pharmaceuticals and similar onto 50 AAC and CAC in either wastewater or ultrapure water. However, matrix effects were 51 observed in the equilibrium results, being more remarkable for AAC. These effects were 52 evidenced by Langmuir maximum adsorption capacities (qm, mg g -1 ): for AAC, the 53 lowest and highest qm were 194 ± 10 (SMX) and 287 ± 9 (PAR), in ultrapure water, and 54 47 ± 1 (SMX) and 407 ± 14 (PAR), in wastewater; while for CAC, the lowest and 55 highest qm were 118 ± 7 (SMX) and 190 ± 16 (PAR) in ultrapure water, and 123 ± 5 56 (SMX) and 160 ± 7 (CBZ) in wastewater. It was found that the matrix pH played a key 57 role in these differences by controlling the surface electrostatic interactions between 58 pharmaceutical and AC. Overall, it was evidenced the need of adsorption results in real 59 matrices and demonstrated that AAC is a promising option to be implemented in tertiary 60 wastewater treatments for pharmaceuticals' removal. 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69

Effect of the surface functionalization of a waste-derived activated carbon on pharmaceuticals' adsorption from water

“…In this way, it was avoided using different doses for different systems, which would imply the impossibility of a direct comparison of the results. The tubes were shaken in a head-over-head shaker for 24 h, at 80 rpm and controlled temperature (25.0 ± 0.1 °C) since, on the basis of previous studies, it was possible to attain equilibrium in these Journal Pre-proof J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 10 conditions [29]. All the experiments were run in triplicate.…”

Treatment of high-ash industrial sludge for producing improved char with low heavy metal toxicity

“…Based on the aforementioned discussion, pyrolysis temperature has a greater impact on the surface functional groups compared with the addition of RS and in particular, the catalysis action of high ash content in IS will facilitate the decomposition of these groups [28]. However, the char obtained with abundant C-O-C is beneficial to the removal of organic pollutants in wastewater [47].…”

Core−Shell Molecularly Imprinted Polymers on Magnetic Yeast for the Removal of Sulfamethoxazole from Water

“…The corresponding adsorbent material was separated from the suspension liquid by an external magnetic field. At last, the concentration of SMX in the liquid phase was measured by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), using a methodology adapted from Silva et al (2019) [33]. The experiments were conducted in triplicate, and control experiments without adsorbent were run in parallel.…”