Open AccessRemoval of metronidazole antibiotic from aqueous solution by ammonia-modified activated carbon: adsorption isotherm and kinetic study
Author(s) -
Ali Ahmadfazeli,
Yousef Poureshgh,
Yousef Rashtbari,
Hamed Akbari,
Peyman Pourali,
Amir Adibzadeh
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of water, sanitation and hygiene for development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2408-9362
pISSN - 2043-9083
DOI - 10.2166/washdev.2021.117
Subject(s) - adsorption , aqueous solution , freundlich equation , activated carbon , chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , ammonia , amine gas treating , nuclear chemistry , volume (thermodynamics) , chromatography , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , engineering , physics
This article was aimed at investigating the removal of metronidazole (MNZ) from aquatic solutions by modified activated carbon (MAC) with amine groups. The effect of various parameters on the adsorption rate such as the initial pH, adsorbent dose and initial concentration of MNZ and contact time were scrutinized. MAC was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller techniques. The obtained results illustrated that under the optimum conditions (pH = 3, contact time = 50 min, initial MNZ concentration = 5 mg/L and MAC dose = 0.5 g/L), the maximum adsorption efficiency was 95%. Furthermore, the kinetic studies indicated the applicability of the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, whereas the adsorption isotherm fitted well with the Freundlich model (0.996), and the maximum adsorption capacity was 66.22 mg/g. The SBET and the total pure volume of MAC were 706.92 m2/g and 0.532 cm3/g, respectively. Also, the regeneration tests demonstrated that MAC had good stability after five cycles (73%). It can be concluded that MAC, as an effective adsorbent, has a high ability to remove MNZ from aqueous solutions.