Adsorption characteristics of paracetamol removal onto activated carbon prepared from Cannabis sativum Hemp

Drugs contamination to wastewater from health care facilities and the pharma industry is a growing problem attracting scientific solution and engineering treatments. This study was performed for the adsorptive removal of paracetamol from water employing activated carbon (AC) prepared from Cannabis Sativum Hemp (CSH). The used CSH is spontaneously available lignocellulosic biomass that nurtures on the roadside and in uncultivated lands naturally. Process performance was optimized by studying the consequences of experimental features, such as pH, particle size, temperature, retention time, stirring speed, and adsorbent dose. Adsorption dynamics were studied employing Langmuir isotherms and Freundlich isotherms. Isothermal dynamics showed that the adsorption of paracetamol on the developed adsorbent was favorable. The kinetics analysis elucidated that the adsorption follows the pseudo second-order model preferably as the value of R-2 = 0.9893. The maximum adsorption capacity of developed activated carbon was found to be 16.18 mg/g. The study results proved that the CSH is an efficient, cheap, and sustainable feedstock for the manufacturing of AC to be used for the efficient removal of paracetamol from an aqueous system. (c) 2021 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study successfully removed paracetamol from water using activated carbon derived from Cannabis Sativum Hemp. The results showed that the Cannabis Sativum Hemp is an efficient, cheap, and sustainable feedstock for the manufacturing of activated carbon for the efficient removal of paracetamol from an aqueous system.