Removal of naproxen from water using adsorbents obtained from low-cost materials
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The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support
through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020, UIDP/00690/2020 and
EXPL2021CIMO_05-REMPHARM) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021).
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support
through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020, UIDP/00690/2020 and EXPL2021CIMO_05-REMPHARM) and
SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021).
The continuous growth of world population together with the strong urbanization has
triggered an increasing demand for freshwater which has resulted in a serious deterioration of
water bodies [1]. Water pollution with pharmaceutical drugs is becoming a relevant problem.
The concentration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, estrogens, personal care products,
among others, in waterways is reaching hazardous levels, posing a threat to the environment and
human health. Moreover, conventional cleaning and degradation processes applied on
wastewater treatment plants are inefficient to eliminate or remove these compounds.
Adsorption is a treatment process considered as effective process used to remove
micropollutants such as pharmaceutical drugs from wastewaters [2, 3].
This work will present the main experimental results obtained for the removal of naproxen, a
representative anti-inflammatory drug, from water by adsorption using activated carbon
obtained from olive stone. From the raw material, four different types of activated carbon
adsorbent were prepared and characterized. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms were
measured using the batch method. The most significant adsorption parameters were optimized,
such as the solution pH, mass of the adsorbent, contact time and temperature. Four types of
activated carbon materials were prepared from olive stones, the olive pits were powdered to an
average diameter of 0.25 mm (type 1), then chemically activated with a strong acid (type 2) and
then carbonized at 500ᵒC (type 3) or pyrolyzed at 800ᵒC (type 4). The batch method was applied
to experimentally measure the equilibrium adsorption isotherms. The most significant
adsorption parameters were optimized, such as the solution pH, mass of the adsorbent used,
adsorption contact time and adsorption temperature.
The continuous growth of world population together with the strong urbanization has triggered an
increasing demand for freshwater which has resulted in a serious deterioration of water bodies1. Water
pollution with pharmaceutical drugs is becoming a relevant problem. The concentration of nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs, estrogens, personal care products, among others, in waterways is
reaching hazardous levels, posing a threat to the environment and human health. Moreover,
conventional cleaning and degradation processes applied on wastewater treatment plants are
inefficient to eliminate or remove these compounds. Adsorption is a treatment process considered as
effective process used to remove micropollutants such as pharmaceutical drugs from wastewaters2,3.
This work will present the main experimental results obtained for the removal of naproxen, a
representative anti-inflammatory drug, from water by adsorption using activated carbon obtained
from olive stone. From the raw material, four different types of activated carbon adsorbent were
prepared and characterized. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms were measured using the batch
method. The most significant adsorption parameters were optimized, such as the solution pH, mass of
the adsorbent, contact time and temperature. The physicochemical characterization of the pyrolyzed
material shows a considerable superficial area of 608 m2/g when compared with other natural
biomass-based materials. The adsorbent with the better performance allowed, using a contact time of
24 hr and a solution pH of 4.5, a removal efficiency of 100%. The Langmuir model was used to better
described the adsorption behavior with the highest maximum adsorption capacity value of 35.2 mg
naproxen/g adsorbent. The kinetics of the adsorption is well described by a pseudo-second order
model.