Efficient progesterone removal from water using molybdenum disulfide nanoparticles

Water contamination by hormone-disrupting chemicals like progesterone (PGS) poses significant risks to environmental and human health. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic study of PGS removal by pure MoS₂ nanoparticles, extending previous work on MoS₂ for structurally related estrogen, 17β-estradiol [1]. Owing to their two-dimensional structure, high surface area, and good stability in water, MoS₂ nanoparticles can achieve higher affinity toward organic molecules like PGS compared to conventional adsorbents such as activated carbon or metal oxides. Under optimized conditions ([MoS₂] = 20 mg L^-1, temperature = 25 °C, pH = 7, initial PGS concentration = 20 mg L^-1), a maximum removal efficiency of 98% was achieved within 1 h. Variations in environmental factors, including temperature, pH, dosage, and initial PGS concentration, influenced the removal efficiency; however, MoS₂ maintained high performance across a broad range of conditions. Mechanistic analysis revealed that van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions were the dominant adsorption mechanisms, as confirmed by adsorption modeling. MoS₂ also demonstrated excellent reusability, with minimal performance loss after multiple cycles. A preliminary cost analysis based on raw material prices suggest that MoS₂ is economically competitive with conventional adsorbents under the tested conditions. These results indicate that MoS₂ is a promising candidate for the treatment of hormone-contaminated water, although further techno-economic evaluation (TEA) at larger scales is required.