Performance evaluation of powdered activated carbon for removing 28 types of antibiotics from water

Zhang, X; Guo, W; Ngo, HH; Wen, H; Li, N; Wu, W

Performance evaluation of powdered activated carbon for removing 28 types of antibiotics from water

Zhang, X Guo, W

Ngo, HH

Wen, H Li, N Wu, W

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Environmental Management, 2016, 172 pp. 193 - 200
Issue Date:: 2016-05-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Zhang, X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Guo, W https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5542-2858	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ngo, HH https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0296-2866	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wen, H	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Li, N	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wu, W	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-05-25T19:02:30Z
dc.date.issued	2016-05-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Environmental Management, 2016, 172 pp. 193 - 200	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0301-4797	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/51952
dc.description.abstract	© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. Currently, the occurrence and fate of antibiotics in the aquatic environment has become a very serious problem in that they can potentially and irreversibly damage the ecosystem and human health. For this reason, interest has increased in developing strategies to remove antibiotics from water. This study evaluated the performance of powdered activated carbon (PAC) in removing from water 6 representative groups of 28 antibiotics, namely Tetracyclines (TCs), Macrolides (MCs), Chloramphenicols (CPs), Penicillins (PNs), Sulfonamides (SAs) and Quinolones (QNs). Results indicate that PAC demonstrated superior adsorption capacity for all selected antibiotics. The removal efficiency was up to 99.9% in deionized water and 99.6% in surface water at the optimum conditions with PAC dosage of 20 mg/L and contact time of 120 min. According to the Freundlich model's adsorption isotherm, the values of n varied among these antibiotics and most were less than 1, suggesting that the adsorption of antibiotics onto PAC was nonlinear. Adsorption of antibiotics followed well the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.99). Analysis using the Weber-Morris model revealed that the intra-particle diffusion was not the only rate-controlling step. Overall, the findings in this study confirm that PAC is a feasible and viable option for removing antibiotics from water in terms of water quality improvement and urgent antibiotics pollution control. Further research is essential on the following subjects: (i) removing more types of antibiotics by PAC; (ii) the adsorption process; and (iii) the mechanism of the competitive adsorption existing between natural organic matters (NOMs) and antibiotics.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Environmental Management	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.02.038	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Environmental Sciences	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Charcoal	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Water	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Anti-Bacterial Agents	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Water Pollutants, Chemical	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Water Purification	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Diffusion	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Kinetics	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Adsorption	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Models, Theoretical	en_US
dc.title	Performance evaluation of powdered activated carbon for removing 28 types of antibiotics from water	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	172	en_US
utslib.for	090404 Membrane and Separation Technologies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CTWW - Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater Treatment
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	172	en_US

Abstract:

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. Currently, the occurrence and fate of antibiotics in the aquatic environment has become a very serious problem in that they can potentially and irreversibly damage the ecosystem and human health. For this reason, interest has increased in developing strategies to remove antibiotics from water. This study evaluated the performance of powdered activated carbon (PAC) in removing from water 6 representative groups of 28 antibiotics, namely Tetracyclines (TCs), Macrolides (MCs), Chloramphenicols (CPs), Penicillins (PNs), Sulfonamides (SAs) and Quinolones (QNs). Results indicate that PAC demonstrated superior adsorption capacity for all selected antibiotics. The removal efficiency was up to 99.9% in deionized water and 99.6% in surface water at the optimum conditions with PAC dosage of 20 mg/L and contact time of 120 min. According to the Freundlich model's adsorption isotherm, the values of n varied among these antibiotics and most were less than 1, suggesting that the adsorption of antibiotics onto PAC was nonlinear. Adsorption of antibiotics followed well the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.99). Analysis using the Weber-Morris model revealed that the intra-particle diffusion was not the only rate-controlling step. Overall, the findings in this study confirm that PAC is a feasible and viable option for removing antibiotics from water in terms of water quality improvement and urgent antibiotics pollution control. Further research is essential on the following subjects: (i) removing more types of antibiotics by PAC; (ii) the adsorption process; and (iii) the mechanism of the competitive adsorption existing between natural organic matters (NOMs) and antibiotics.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/51952