Investigating the Efficiency of Zirconium Oxide Nanoparticles in Removal of Ciprofoxacin from Aqueous Environments

Abstract

Antibiotics as emerging contaminants are of global concern due to the development of antibiotic resistant genes potentially causing superbugs. The inefficiency of conventional purification processes in the complete removal of antibiotics increases the resistance of microorganisms in humans and the environment, hence new and low-cost technology is needed. Adsorptive materials have been extensively used for the conditioning, remediation and removal of inorganic and organic hazardous materials. Zirconium oxide is a widely used inorganic material which is chemically  stable, non-toxic and not soluble in water. Thus it could be an attractive candidate for drinking water puri? cation. In this study, Zirconium Oxide Nanoparticles (ZrO2NP)has been used as the adsorbent for the possibility of removing Cipro? oxacin (CIP) from aqueous solution using the batch adsorption technique under different conditions of initial CIP concentration (25, 50, 75, 100 mg/L), adsorbent dose (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1 g/L)   and contact time (10-150 min). The percentage of CIP adsorbed increased with increase in the mass of the adsorbent dose from 0.1 to 1 g/L. Kinetics study for sorption was evaluated using diffusion  models,  pseudo-first  order  kinetic  and pseudo-second  order  kinetic.  Results  show  that  pseudo  second-order kinetic model gave the best description for the adsorption process. The experiments showed that the highest removal rate was 96.5% under optimal conditions. The sorption of CIP on ZrO2NP was rapid during the first 30 min and the equilibrium attained  within  75  min.  The  results  suggest  that  ZrO2NPcould  be a good  candidate  to remove  CIP from  wastewater containing different amounts of antibiotic.