Removal of pharmaceuticals by novel magnetic genipin-crosslinked chitosan/graphene oxide-SO3H composite

Abstract

A novel magnetic adsorbent genipin-crosslinked chitosan/graphene oxide-SO₃H (GC/MGO-SO₃H) composite was prepared and used as adsorbents of environmental pollutant. The GC/MGO-SO₃H exhibit typical superparamagnetic behavior. The adsorption characteristics of GC/MGO-SO₃H composite to pharmaceuticals were investigated through batch experiments. The maximum adsorption capacity of ibuprofen and tetracycline increases from 113.27 to 138.16 mg/g and 473.25 to 556.28 mg/g with the increase in temperature from 298 to 313 K. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms were investigated in detail to reveal that the kinetics and equilibrium adsorptions are well described by pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm model, respectively. This study has demonstrated that the GC/MGO-SO₃H composite could be utilized as an efficient and with high speed.

Keywords: Adsorption; Chitosan/graphene oxide-SO(3)H; Ibuprofen; Tetracycline; Water treatment.