Extensive sorption of Amoxicillin by highly efficient carbon-based adsorbent from palm kernel: Artificial neural...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Water Treatment

Background:

• Amoxicillin (AMX) is a widely used antibiotic, and its presence in wastewater poses environmental and health risks.
• Conventional wastewater treatment methods are often insufficient for complete removal of pharmaceutical pollutants like AMX.
• Development of efficient and cost-effective sorbent materials is crucial for addressing pharmaceutical contamination in water.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate and characterize a new sorbent material from Palm Kernel (PK) for Amoxicillin (AMX) removal.
• To investigate the sorption efficacy of the developed sorbent under various operational parameters.
• To evaluate the sorption mechanism and capacity of the sorbent for AMX from aqueous solutions.

Main Methods:

• Palm Kernel (PK) was converted into magnetic activated carbon (MA-PK) via dry thermochemical activation with NaOH.
• Characterization of MA-PK was performed using FTIR, X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM, and BET analysis.
• Sorption experiments were conducted to evaluate the influence of pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, AMX concentration, and ionic strength.

Main Results:

• The MA-PK sorbent exhibited a high specific surface area (1852.4 m²/g) with key functional groups (C-C, C-O, C[double bond]O, hydroxyl).
• Optimal AMX removal (98.77%) was achieved at a sorbent dosage of 1 g/L, pH 5, and 60 min contact time for 400 mg/L AMX.
• Sorption data best fitted the Hill isotherm (R² = 0.987) and Elovich kinetic model (R² = 0.9998), indicating a maximum sorption capacity of 719.07 mg/g.

Conclusions:

• The fabricated MA-PK is a highly effective and efficient sorbent for removing Amoxicillin from aqueous solutions.
• Artificial neural network (ANN) modeling identified MA-PK dosage and contact time as critical parameters for AMX removal.
• The MA-PK sorbent demonstrated successful application in removing AMX from real hospital wastewater, highlighting its practical potential.