Removal of endocrine‐disrupting compounds from water using macroporous molecularly imprinted cryogels in a moving‐bed reactor

Abstract

Original PaperRemoval of endocrine-disrupting compounds from water using macroporous molecularly imprinted cryogels in a moving-bed reactorHighly efficient removal of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) such as 17b-estradiol (E2), 4-nonylphenol (NP) and atrazine from water was achieved using a novel macroporous adsorption medium. The medium consisted of a macroporous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) cryogel with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) particles embedded in it. The MIP was prepared using E2, NP and atrazine as templates. The macroporous composite molecularly imprinted cryogels were formed inside the open-ended protective shells, known as Kaldnes carriers. These adsorbents (defined as Macroporous Gel Particles, MGPs) were evaluated on the removal of E2, NP and atrazine from water using different column configurations, namely column filled with the MGPs (packed-bed column) and in moving-bed reactors (defined here as moving-bed MGPs reactor). Complete binding (A 99%) of E2 from a spiked aqueous solution (1 mg/L) was achieved using E2-MIP/MGPs in a moving-bed MGPs reactor at the retention time in the reactor of 4 min, while only 77% was bound to the nonimprinted medium (NIP/MGPs). Similar results were also obtained for the adsorption medium imprinted with atrazine. All contaminants studied (E2, atrazine and NP) were effectively removed from water at low (environmentally relevant) concentrations by the respective adsorption medium.

Cryogels: Morphological, structural and adsorption characterisation

“…36) in 46 areas of both low and high hydration. The PM6/MOZYME calculations of the hydrated fragments of hydrogels (Fig.…”

“…Therefore, complete removal of 17β-estradiol as a probe compound by the MIP-cryogel composite from water was done at much shorter time [46].…”

“…Therefore, determination of the amounts of different types of water in cryogels [50,51,54] is of importance to understand the nature of adsorption/desorption and diffusion processes within the pore network in cryogels, as well as to estimate the biocompatibility and structural organisation of whole cryogels [2][3][4][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]54]. A variety of experimental methods sensitive to the water state can be used for these purposes [50][51][52][53][54][55][56].…”

Cryogels for Biotechnological Applications

“…A schematic presentation of the set-up is shown in Fig. 16 [112]. When running buffer solutions spiked with estradiol, it was shown that 100 % (within the experimental error) was removed.…”

“…After polymerization, the housings with their content (the MGPs) were separated from surplus cryogel and then washed properly before use. More details can be found in the literature [110][111][112].…”