Paracetamol and Ibuprofen Removal from Aqueous Phase Using a Ceramic-Derived Activated Carbon

Abstract

Emerging pollutants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, have been detected in surface and groundwaters. The adsorption of paracetamol and ibuprofen, two widespread drugs, has been studied in aqueous medium, using a ceramic-derived carbon (CeDC) and a commercial activated carbon (CoAC). CeDC yielded a BET surface area of 895 m 2 g −1 , a bimodal pore size distribution (13.2 and 35 nm) and a total pore volume of 1.99 cm 3 g −1 . CoAC had an approximate surface area of 1000 m 2 g −1 , a homogeneous pore size distribution and a total pore volume of 0.42 cm 3 g −1 . Kinetic and equilibrium tests were carried out in batch systems to study the materials’ sorption performances. The intraparticle diffusion model best fitted the experimental kinetic data. The maximum ibuprofen sorption capacities were 120 mg g −1 and 133 mg g −1 for CoAC and CeDC, respectively, whereas no major differences on the maximum paracetamol sorption capacities (qm) were observed among the sorbents (150–159 mg g −1 ). Therefore, CeDC, synthesized easily from a ceramic composite, improved time and sorption capacity of paracetamol and ibuprofen compared to the commercial activated carbon, indicating the potential of the developed carbon as an emerging pollutant sorbent material.

Valorization and Upcycling of Acid Mine Drainage and Plastic Waste via the Preparation of Magnetic Sorbents for Adsorption of Emerging Contaminants

“…The obtained adsorption capacities for ACT ranged between 81.7–112 mg/g, which was lower compared to those reported elsewhere (Table ). − This could be that Ferreira and co-workers used a lower pH, mass of adsorbent, high sample volume, and longer contact time, suggesting lower pH (Table ) gave more ionic interactions and higher sample volume, which allowed more room for interactions for a longer time . On the other hand, some researchers used similar pH conditions but higher sample volume and longer reaction time, which allowed for room and longer interactions between analytes and adsorbents. , However, a lower capacity obtained by Hamoudi and colleagues suggests that increased mass of adsorbent and longer reaction time did not have much influence on the adsorption capacities .…”

“…86 On the other hand, some researchers used similar pH conditions but higher sample volume and longer reaction time, which allowed for room and longer interactions between analytes and adsorbents. 87,88 However, a lower capacity obtained by Hamoudi and colleagues suggests that increased mass of adsorbent and longer reaction time did not have much influence on the adsorption capacities. 89 The adsorption capacities for CAF ranged between 76.3−102 mg/g, which were lower than those reported in the literature (Table 7).…”

Methods to prepare biosorbents and magnetic sorbents for water treatment: a review

“…The effectiveness of activated carbon for adsorbing different pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) (Bursztyn Fuentes et al 2022;El Naga et al 2019;García-Rosero et al 2022;Kim et al 2022) and other emerging pollutants (Ahn et al 2022;Moreno-Marenco et al 2020) have been documented. The adsorption generally occurs via porefilling/size exclusion, hydrogen bonding, π-π electro-donor acceptor, electrostatic interactions, and hydrophobic interaction mechanism (Ahn et al 2022;Liu et al 2022a;Pamphile et al 2019).…”

Sonicating for the Uptake of Paracetamol from Solution by Activated Carbon from Oak: Kinetics, Thermodynamics, and Isotherms

“…Commercial AC [19] 101 Olive stones AC [20] 100 Tea waste AC [21] 99.42 Brazil nutshells AC [22] 306.7 Butia capitata endocarp AC [23] 100.60 plant sludge of the beverage industry AC [24] 145 Ceramic AC [25] 159 Cannabis sativum Hemp AC [26] 16.18 Fruit of Butiacapitate AC [27] 98.19 Oak cupule AC (present study) 97.91 9 Adsorption Science & Technology…”