Removal of acetaminophen from the contaminated water using adsorption onto carbon activated with NH4Cl

The efficacy of NH4Cl-induced activated carbon (NAC) in removing acetaminophen (ACT) as a model of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical compounds in aqueous solution is investigated in this study. The experiments were performed in different conditions of solution pH, contact time, initial concentration, adsorbent concentration, and solution temperature to the adsorption of ACT on NAC. The results showed that ACT adsorption onto adsorbent was not pH-dependent in the range of 2-9; but, at higher pH values, the removal efficiency was significantly decreased. Adsorption of ACT by NAC followed pseudo-second order kinetics, and the equilibrium adsorption data best fitted the Langmuir isotherm. The maximum capacity was 233mg/g. Overall, NAC efficiently adsorbed ACT; thus, it can be considered as an affordable and cost-effective system for the removal of pharmaceutical compounds from aqueous solutions.