WITHDRAWN: Reuse of Waste Materials as Precursors of Activated Carbon Synthesis for the Abatement of Antibiotic Cefpodoxime Proxetil from Industrial Effluents.

Abstract

The release of antibiotics to aquatic environment creates aquatic ecotoxicity and their bioaccumulation results in antibiotic resistance. Hence to lessen the risk of ecotoxicity and depletion of natural resources, it is imperative to disclose alternate precursor raw materials that can be successfully employed for the synthesis of new sorbents capable to remove antibiotics from the environment. This research reports the synthesis of activated carbon based sorbents derived from waste biomaterials like coconut shell (CNAC), walnut shell & peach stone (WNAC) and Bombax ceiba fruit capsule (BCAC) and their ability to remove antibiotic Cefpodoxime from the industrial effluents. Activation of carbon was done by HNO3 and H3PO4. FTIR, BET and SEM techniques were used for characterization of sorbents. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to study the adsorption behavior. Moreover, the experimental adsorption capacity (qe) of the three activated carbons was found to be 32 mg/g for CNAC, 40 mg/g for WNAC and 10 mg/g for BCAC. The maximum removal efficiency of the drug was found to be 96% using the WNAC. HPLC analysis was performed to confirm the removal of Cefpodoxime from industrial effluent.