TY - JOUR

T1 - Natural clay as a sorbent to remove pharmaceutical micropollutants from wastewater

AU - Mahouachi, Lamia

AU - Rastogi, Tushar

AU - Palm, Wolf Ulrich

AU - Ghorbel-Abid, Ibtissem

AU - Ben Hassen Chehimi, Dalila

AU - Kümmerer, Klaus

N1 - Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/11/1

Y1 - 2020/11/1

N2 - Worldwide, the aquatic environment is contaminated by micro-pollutants, such as ingredients of personal care products, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. This contamination is one of the major environmental issues of global concern. Adsorption is one of approach, which has been most extensively discussed within recent years for the reduction of the input of micro-pollutants into the environment. In the present study, the natural clay classified as Na-montmorillonite, was characterized and tested for its potential to remove four model compounds representing different polarity and ionizability: i) diatrizoic acid (DAT), ii) iopamidol (IOP), iii) metformin (MTF), and iv) carbamazepine (CBZ). The adsorption efficiency of clay was evaluated by initial compound concentration, effect of pH, contact time and temperature. The results indicated that clay was able to remove the pharmaceuticals from aqueous medium with an efficiency of 70% for CBZ and MTF. In contrast, clay showed a lower removal of 30% for DAT and no removal for IOP. The results indicate that clay could rapidly and efficiently reduce the concentration of CBZ and MTF, which could provide a solution to remove some substances, without undesirable by-product generation. However, this study clearly demonstrated that removal rates strongly depend on the compound. Albeit chemical structure may play a role for the different degree of removal, this study could not completely explain the sorption mechanism between sorbent-sorbate interactions.

AB - Worldwide, the aquatic environment is contaminated by micro-pollutants, such as ingredients of personal care products, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. This contamination is one of the major environmental issues of global concern. Adsorption is one of approach, which has been most extensively discussed within recent years for the reduction of the input of micro-pollutants into the environment. In the present study, the natural clay classified as Na-montmorillonite, was characterized and tested for its potential to remove four model compounds representing different polarity and ionizability: i) diatrizoic acid (DAT), ii) iopamidol (IOP), iii) metformin (MTF), and iv) carbamazepine (CBZ). The adsorption efficiency of clay was evaluated by initial compound concentration, effect of pH, contact time and temperature. The results indicated that clay was able to remove the pharmaceuticals from aqueous medium with an efficiency of 70% for CBZ and MTF. In contrast, clay showed a lower removal of 30% for DAT and no removal for IOP. The results indicate that clay could rapidly and efficiently reduce the concentration of CBZ and MTF, which could provide a solution to remove some substances, without undesirable by-product generation. However, this study clearly demonstrated that removal rates strongly depend on the compound. Albeit chemical structure may play a role for the different degree of removal, this study could not completely explain the sorption mechanism between sorbent-sorbate interactions.

KW - Chemistry

KW - Micro-pollutants

KW - Montmorillonite

KW - Natural adsorbent

KW - Removal capacity

KW - Water treatment

KW - Clay

KW - Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis

KW - Temperature

KW - Waste Water

KW - Carbamazepine

KW - Adsorption

KW - Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods

KW - Bentonite/chemistry

KW - Hydrogen-Ion Concentration

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086782405&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127213

DO - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127213

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 32947655

AN - SCOPUS:85086782405

VL - 258

JO - Chemosphere

JF - Chemosphere

SN - 0045-6535

M1 - 127213

ER -