Adsorption behaviors of three antibiotics in single and co-existing aqueous solutions using mesoporous carbon

Bin Wang; Qianyuan Mo; Bo Qin; Lei Song; Jiang Li; Guishang Sheng; Dezhi Shi; Xiaoyi Xu; Li'an Hou

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2022.114375

Adsorption behaviors of three antibiotics in single and co-existing aqueous solutions using mesoporous carbon

Environ Res. 2022 Dec;215(Pt 2):114375. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114375. Epub 2022 Sep 24.

Authors

Bin Wang¹, Qianyuan Mo², Bo Qin², Lei Song², Jiang Li³, Guishang Sheng², Dezhi Shi⁴, Xiaoyi Xu⁵, Li'an Hou⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Civil Engineering, Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Rock and Soil Mechanics and Engineering Safety, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China; Key Laboratory of Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China. Electronic address: bwang7@gzu.edu.cn.
² College of Civil Engineering, Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory of Rock and Soil Mechanics and Engineering Safety, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China.
³ College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China. Electronic address: xuxiaoyiskd@usts.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China; Xi'an High-Tech Institute, Xi'an, 710025, China.

PMID: 36167111
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114375

Abstract

The residual antibiotics detected frequently in aquatic environment may pose a potential threat to human health and ecosystem. Exploring a possible way to remove them from antibiotic polluted-water is a key problem demanding prompt solution. To investigate their adsorption characteristics, three antibiotics including tetracycline (TC), ciprofloxacin (CIP), and sulfadiazine (SDZ) have been removed using sucrose-based mesoporous carbon (SMC) in single and co-existing systems. Characterization revealed that the SMC had a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area (1215.48 m²/g), large mesoporous pore size (6.36 nm), and abundant oxygen-containing functional groups, which might offer sufficient adsorption sites for antibiotics. The process of antibiotics adsorption was described well using pseudo-second-order model. The rate constant K₂ at various temperatures followed the order 308 K > 298 K > 288 K. This finding suggesting the increase in temperature could promote the removal of antibiotics. The maximum adsorption capacities for TC (232.10 mg/g), CIP (257.30 mg/g), and SDZ (204.28 mg/g) of SMC were obtained using Langmuir isotherm (pH = 4-6, T = 308K, SMC dosage = 10 mg, C₀ = 30-40 mg/L). These data implied SMC had the excellent adsorptive property and affinity to antibiotics. In binary systems, SMC offers efficient removal percentages (>90%) for each of the target antibiotic. While the removal efficiencies of TC, CIP, and SDZ by SMC in the ternary system were 90.40, 72.99, and 80.46%, respectively. These results suggested the competition on active sites of SMC happened among the three antibiotics. The affinities of SMC to three antibiotics followed the order TC > SDZ > CIP. The removal of antibiotics by SMC were mainly attributed to the mechanisms including electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonding and so on. This study will provide a technical support for antibiotic wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Adsorption behavior; Adsorption mechanisms; Affinity; Antibiotics; Sucrose-based mesoporous carbon.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Anti-Bacterial Agents* / chemistry
Carbon* / chemistry
Ciprofloxacin / chemistry
Ecosystem
Humans
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Kinetics
Oxygen
Sucrose
Sulfadiazine
Tetracycline
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / chemistry
Water Purification* / methods

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Sulfadiazine
Sucrose
Ciprofloxacin
Carbon
Tetracycline
Oxygen