Abstract
Amoxicillin (AMOX) is the most widely used penicillin derivative antibiotic class drug in Europe and Turkey. AMOX, which contains a lactam ring and aromatic group in its structure, is given to the receiving environment without being treated in conventional wastewater treatment plants due to its lipophilic structure and very low biodegradability. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of beige sepiolite (50% sepiolite) in removing AMOX from aqueous solutions. AMOX adsorption performance of beige sepiolite was investigated in terms of its properties such as surface area, porosity, crystal morphology, and electrokinetic potential of sepiolite. The interaction of the electrokinetic surface of sepiolite, which changed depending on the pH of the environment, with the functional groups in the structure of AMOX, which showed amphoteric behavior, and the adsorption mechanism of AMOX of sepiolite depending on the adsorption conditions were revealed. The properties of the sepiolite were investigated by XRD, XRF, SEM–EDX, BET, DTA-TGA, FTIR analyses, and zeta potential measurements. The effects of parameters such as ambient pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, AMOX concentration, and temperature on AMOX adsorption capacity were investigated, and the optimized conditions were determined for the highest adsorption efficiency. As a result, ambient pH of 3, adsorbent dosage of 1 g/L, contact time of 30 min, AMOX concentration of 50 mg/L, and temperature of 35 °C were determined as the optimized conditions for the sepiolite/AMOX adsorption. Additionally, the adsorption data showed that AMOX adsorption was well-fitted with the Freundlich isotherm model, and the pseudo-second-order model was the most suitable kinetic model for AMOX adsorption on beige sepiolite. It was observed that diffusion was the rate-determining step in adsorption, but intrapore liquid film diffusion was more decisive. It was also determined that adsorption was physical and spontaneous.
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NB contributed to methodology, data curation, and investigation. EB contributed to formal analysis, data curation, and writing. ES contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing and editing, and supervision.
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Bilgin, N., Bulut, E. & Sabah, E. Mechanistic insight into amoxicillin removal by natural sepiolite. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 8897–8912 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04988-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-04988-5