Adsorption technique for the removal of acetaminophen as adsorbate contaminant from water with metals and eggshell

Abstract

Various classes of pharmaceutical drugs have been detected in different environmental compartments around the world. Research is being conducted to fully understand the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals, particularly non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, discovered in South Africa in the near future. In this study, we synthesized iron/eggshell/bentonite (FEB) and eggshell/bentonite (EB) samples that extract acetaminophen from aqueous environmental samples. On the holes of the samples, acetaminophen was adsorbing by a Langmuir isotherm and by a pseudo-second-order model implying the formation of a monolayer through physical adsorption. Through the Langmuir model, we evaluated the nanocomposites’ adsorption capacity on acetaminophen pharmaceutical for removal at 25°C using EB (16.55 mg g–1 ) and FEB (46.34 mg g–1 ). The FEB and EB were used as selective sorbents to extract acetaminophen from wastewater. UV/Vis chromatography was then performed to analyse the results. As a result of the analytical method, the detection limit was 0.109 and 0.133 mg mL–1 and recovery was 99.9%; concentrations of acetaminophen in wastewater samples ranged from 0.042 to 0.133 mg mL–1 for EB adsorbent and 0.023 to 0.109 mg mL–1 for FEB. Several studies have shown that wastewater in the labs can be treated effectively for the release of acetaminophen.