Water contaminated by cytostatic drugs has many negative impacts on the ecosystems. In this work, cross-linked adsorbent beads based on alginate and a geopolymer (prepared from an illito-kaolinitic clay) were developed for a promising decontamination of the 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) cytostatic drug from water samples. The characterization of the prepared geopolymer and its hybrid derivative was performed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and termogravimetric analysis. Batch adsorption experiments indicated that alginate/geopolymer hybrid beads (AGHB) allow an excellent 5-FU removal efficiency of up to 80% for a dosage adsorbent/water of 0.002 g/mL and a concentration of 5-FU of 2.5 mg/L. The adsorption isotherms data follow well the Langmuir model. The kinetics data favor the pseudo-second-order model. The maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) was 6.2 mg/g. The optimal adsorption pH was 4. Besides pore filling sorption process, the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups from alginate immobilized onto the geopolymer matrix favored the retention of 5-FU ions by hydrogen bonds. Common competitors, such as dissolved organic matter, do not significantly affected the adsorption. In addition, this material has not only eco-friendly and cost-effective advantages but also excellent efficiency when applied to real environmental samples such as wastewater and surface water. This fact suggests that it could have a great application in the purification of contaminated water.
Keywords: Adsorption; Biocomposite; Cytostatic drugs; Environmental water; Hybrid material.
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