Author/Authors :
Nazari، Ghadir نويسنده Center for Separation Processes Modeling and Nano-Computations AND Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran , , Abolghasemi، Hossein نويسنده , , Esmaieli، Mohamad نويسنده Center for Separation Processes Modeling and Nano-Computations AND Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ,
Abstract :
Background and Purpose: Recently, release of pollutants such as pharmaceuticals to the
environment becomes one of the most important problems for soil and water. The present study
was conducted to introduce walnut shell-based activated carbon (AC) as a new low-cost
adsorbent for the removal of cephalexin (CFX) antibiotic from aqueous solutions.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in laboratory scale. To investigation of the
morphology of the prepared walnut shell AC and nanoparticles, scanning electron microscopy
analysis was applied. The effect of the presence of Fe2O3 and SiO2 nanoparticles on the
adsorption of CFX on the walnut shell AC is also studied.
Results: The maximum removal efficiency (RE) was obtained 98.4% at 100 mg/L initial CFX
concentration and decreased to 72.9% with increasing in the initial CFX concentration to 200
mg/L. The results showed that the presence of nanoparticles in the optimum increased the RE of
CFX by about 2.1 and 6.5% for Fe2O3 and SiO2 nanoparticles, respectively.
Conclusion: Results suggest the potential of using the walnut shell AC as an adsorbent for
effective treatment of pharmaceutical-contaminated wastewaters.
