Modification of activated carbon with magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticle composite for removal of ceftriaxone from aquatic solutions

Recently, Antibiotics have been extensively applied in various industries including agricultural, pharmaceutical and veterinary. Great concerns of antibiotics are about discharge into environment, especially water sources supplied for water demand over the world. The present study was developed to investigate the performance of powder activated carbon modified with magnetite nanoparticles (PAC-MNPs) in removal of Ceftriaxone from aquatic solutions with response surface methodology (RSM). A co-precipitation was applied to synthesize magnetized powdered activated carbon and its characteristics were analyzed with TEM, SEM and XRD. The effects of independent parameters pH (3-11), initial Ceftriaxone values (10-100 mg/L), temperature (298-313 K), and adsorbent dosage (1.05-2 g/L) on removal efficiency were analyzed by RSM based Box-Benhken Design (BBD). The optimum conditions for maximum removal of Ceftriaxone (97.18% with desirability of 0.9720) were recorded from desirability function (DF) at pH: 3.14, contact time: 90 min, adsorbent dosage: 1.99 g/L, initial concentration: 10 mg/L and temperature: 298 K. The survey of isotherms and Kinetics indicated that the experimental data are fitted to Langmuir and second-pseudo-order models. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the CTX removal was spontaneous and exothermic. Regeneration experiments were performed for 6 cycles and the results indicate a removal efficiency loss of <10%. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.