Evaluation of techniques for the remediation of antibiotic-contaminated water using activated carbon

Abstract

Antibiotics have emerged as an important group of environmental pollutants and attracted global concern due to their persistent influence on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems even at low concentrations and evolution of antibiotic-resistant superbug.

Toxicity and remediation of pharmaceuticals and pesticides using metal oxides and carbon nanomaterials

“…Of note, physical and chemical activation are the two major types of treatments. The physical activation occurs in the presence of inert gases, O 2 absence or activation by oxidizing agents such as steam, air, CO 2 and their combination, while the chemical activation occurs via carbonization, impregnation with base (KOH, NaOH and Na 2 CO 3 ), alkali metal salt (AlCl 3 and ZnCl 2 ) or acid (H 3 PO 4 and H 2 SO 4 ), and strongly dehydration (Shejale et al, 2020). The activation by using chemical oxidants is performed under mild conditions as compared to physical activation and is created by the chemical-treated activated carbons with higher micro-porosity and larger surface area (Ahmed, 2017).…”

GVPC Medium Manufactured without Oxygen Improves the Growth of Legionella spp. and Exhibits Enhanced Selectivity Properties

“…However, if O 2 is removed, the antibiotic would not interact with the -COO- and -O- groups of the charcoal and would be more effective against P. aeruginosa ( 43 ). More studies are required to fully characterize this interaction, considering previous reports of the capacity of charcoal to remove different types of antibiotics through high adsorption ( 44 ) and charcoal-oxygen-nitrogen interactions ( 43 , 45 ). Another possible explanation could be related to the secondary mechanism of action of polymyxin B, in which an oxidative burst is generated when it interacts with P. aeruginosa ( 46 ).…”

Devising and Exploiting Functionalities of Nanocomposites for Removal of Organic Pollutants and for Disinfection

“…Nanomaterials possess unique properties like high specific surface area, high surface to volume ratio, porous nature, active sites, etc., and act as highly efficient material system to selectively remove these contaminants or convert them to less harmful/nontoxic elements. Such nanomaterials like carbonaceous compounds, wide-band semiconductors, various assemblies in 2D, 3D, and membrane structures, etc., always reported excellent performance as compared to the conventional remediation techniques [79]. The composite structures like heterojunctions, various combinations of these nanomaterials, polymers, surface functionalization with other active metal/nanomaterials, etc., make these materials highly active for water remediation and widen their scope to other water contaminants like gases, biological substances, and many more.…”