Efficient adsorption of pharmaceutical drugs from aqueous solution using a mesoporous activated carbon

Abstract

The removal of widely used pharmaceuticals by new granular mesoporous activated carbon materials prepared via a simple one-step pyrolysis process was studied. The series of mesoporous carbons (MC) were derived from sucrose/polystyrene using two mesoporous matrices: MCM-48 and SBA-15 sieves. Two different activation schemes were used to obtained samples: steam-pyrolysis at 900 °C, and chemical modification (with HNO3, H2O2 and their mixture) at 200 °C. The studied conditions of chemical oxidation led to significant structural alterations. Compared to the activated carbon treated by steam at 900 °C, the treatment via chemical oxidation increased the total volume of pores from 1.09 to 2.73 cm 3 g -1 . The total adsorption capacity towards tetracycline was found to be proportional to the mesoporous volume and the amount of surface O-containing groups. From the experimental adsorption isotherms, the maximum adsorption capacity was calculated 909.2 mg•g −1 for tetracycline at pH = 7. The kinetics of adsorption fits the pseudo-second order model perfectly. The adsorption data treated by both Langmuir and Freundlich models indicates that the adsorption was monomolecular. This research provides insight into the adsorption behavior of antibiotics on non-activated and activated mesoporous carbonous materials and facilitates their application to removal of pharmaceuticals from contaminated aqueous solutions. The potential adsorption mechanism of mesoporous carbons for the adsorption of antibiotics was proposed. The granular mesoporous carbon after oxidation by mixture of HNO3 and H2O2 with ration 1:1 exhibited much higher adsorptive activity and still showed relatively high adsorption stability even after five cycles, which were potentially suitable for easy separation and high efficiency.

In-situ carbonization of ZIF-67 to fabricate magnetically Co/N-mC with high adsorption capacity toward water remediation

“…In the actual sewage restoration project, the recovery and reuse of adsorbents is a core technology. [46]. Therefore, the cyclic experiment of Co/N-mC composite was further explored and the results were shown in Fig.…”

Sunflower biomass power plant by-products: Properties and its potential for water purification of organic pollutants

“…Several isotherm models have been employed for analysis of equilibrium data. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms are applied in this study [53]. The parameters obtained from the different models were summarized in Table 5.…”

Application of Hydrophobic Magnetic Nanoparticles as Cleanup Adsorbents for Pesticide Residue Analysis in Fruit, Vegetable, and Various Soil Samples

“…Lab-made hydrophobic magnetite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 @Triton), produced from core−shell MNPs modified with the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100, 31 were used in this study. For the sake of comparison, GCB 33 and a commercial SPE sorbent (C18) 34 were used to remove polar compounds. The textural characteristics of all these adsorbents are given (Table 1).…”