Modelling the diclofenac and indomethacin recovery by molecularly imprinted polymer

Abstract

Pharmaceutical compounds in surface waters are an emergingenvironmental concern due to their biological activity, which consequently present a newchallenge for drinking water and wastewater treatment systems. In this work, diclofenac(DCF) and indomethacin (IDM) have been used as target molecules or templates in orderto be removed by means of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP). MIP-DCF and MIPIDMwere synthesised and tested using two mathematical models, which are Lagergren andThomas models. In addition, functional groups of the active functional sites and the targetmolecules have also been studied by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. BothMIPs followed the Lagergren pseudo first order kinetic model. Comparing the originalMIP-DCF and MIP-DCF after loading with DCF, differences in their functional groupswere found. In conclusion, MIP-DCF and MIP-IDM work as good sorbents to recoverthese emerging pharmaceuticals persistent pollutants from water.