Typical Sulfonamide Antibiotics Removal by Biochar-Amended River Coarse Sand during Groundwater Recharge

Abstract

The high porosity of medium-coarse sand (MCS) layers in groundwater recharge areas presents a high environmental risk. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and trimethoprim (TMP) are two common sulfonamide antibiotics in surface water that have a high propensity to migrate into groundwater. In this study, four biochars were prepared and biochar-amended soil aquifer treatment (SAT) columns were constructed to remove SMX and TMP. Batch experiments demonstrated that the sorption isotherms conformed to the Freundlich model. The maximum adsorptions of biochars prepared at 700 °C were 54.73 and 67.62 mg/g for SMX and 59.3 and 73.38 mg/g for TMP. Electrostatic interaction may be one of the primary mechanisms of adsorption. The column experiments showed that the SMX and TMP removal rate of the biochar-amended SAT was as high as 96%, while that of the MCS SAT was less than 5%. The addition of biochar greatly improved the retention capacity of the pollutants in the MCS layer in the groundwater recharge area and effectively reduced environmental risk.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Pharmaceutical Trimethoprim in Aqueous Solution over Nanostructured TiO2 Film Irradiated with Simulated Solar Radiation

“…This highlights the need to remove it from the wastewater prior to its release into the environment. Several methods have been suggested for the degradation of trimethoprim, which include advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) like ozonation [15][16][17][18][19], membrane processes such as nanofiltration and reverse osmosis [20,21], sonochemical processes [22], combined treatments [23], and adsorption processes [24,25].…”