title: Efficient removal of amoxicillin and paracetamol from aqueous solutions using magnetic activated carbon.
abstract: Activated carbon (AC)/CoFe2O4nanocomposites, MAC-1 and MAC-2, were prepared by a simple pyrolytic method using a mixture of iron(III)/cobalt(II) benzoates and iron(III)/cobalt(II) oxalates, respectively, and were used as efficient adsorbents for the removal of amoxicillin (AMX) and paracetamol (PCT) of aqueous effluents. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The sizes of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles formed from benzoates of iron(III)/cobalt(II) and oxalates of iron(III)/cobalt(II) precursors were in the ranges of 5-80 and 6-27 nm, respectively. The saturation magnetization (Ms), remanence (Mr) and coercivity (Hc) of the MAC-2 nanocomposites were found to be 3.07 emu g-1, 1.36 emu g-1and 762.49 Oe; for MAC-1, they were 0.2989 emu g-1, 0.0466 emu g-1and 456.82 Oe. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm studies were investigated, and the results showed that the as-prepared nanocomposites MAC-1 and MAC-2 could be utilized as an efficient, magnetically separable adsorbent for environmental cleanup. The maximum sorption capacities obtained were 280.9 and 444.2 mg g-1of AMX for MAC-1 and MAC-2, respectively, and 215.1 and 399.9 mg g-1of PCT using MAC-1 and MAC-2, respectively. Both adsorbents were successfully used for simulated hospital effluents, removing at least 93.00 and 96.77% for MAC-1 and MAC-2, respectively, of a mixture of nine pharmaceuticals with high concentrations of sugars, organic components and saline concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saucier
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641029, India.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karthickeyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641029, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ranjithkumar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eder C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. glaydsonambiental@mail.com.|Department of Metallurgy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Engineering School, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Agronomia, Porto Alegre, 91501-970, Brazil. glaydsonambiental@mail.com.
authors.forename: Glaydson S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Dos Reis
authors.affiliation: Department of Metallurgy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Engineering School, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Agronomia, Porto Alegre, 91501-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Irineu A S
authors.initials: IAS
authors.lastname: de Brum
mesh_terms: D000082:Acetaminophen / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000327:Adsorption; D000658:Amoxicillin / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D003035:Cobalt / Q000737:chemistry; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry; D012996:Solutions; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; D012996:Solutions; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C569492:cobalt ferrite; D002606:Charcoal; D000082:Acetaminophen; D003035:Cobalt; D000658:Amoxicillin
keywords: Adsorption; Amoxicillin; Carbon nanocomposites; Magnetic properties; Paracetamol