Author/Authors :
Tabatabaei, Fatemeh Sadat Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Asadi-Ghalhari, Mahdi Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Aali, Rahim Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Mohammadi, Fatemeh Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Mostafaloo, Roqiyeh Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Esmaeili, Rezvaneh Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Davarparast, Zohreh Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran , Safari, Zahra Department of Environmental Health Engineering - Faculty of Health - Qom University of Medical Sciences - Qom, Iran
Abstract :
Remaining pharmaceutical compounds cause environmental pollution.
Therefore, refining these compounds has become a major challenge. In this study, the
function of eliminating Cefixime (CFX) using rice starch was evaluated under controlled
conditions.
Methods: Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to design, analyze, and optimize
experiments, and the interaction between four variables including pH (3-9),
rice starch dose (0–300 mg/L), CFX initial concentration (0–16 mg/L) and time (20–
120 min) was investigated on CFX removal.
Results: The optimum pH, starch dose, initial concentration and time were 4.5, 225
mg/L, 7.9 mg/L and 95 min, respectively. The maximum efficiency of CFX removal
was 70.22%. According to RSM, this study follows a quadratic model (R2=0.954).
Conclusion: Rice starch has been successful in removing CFX from the aqueous solution.
Therefore, it is recommended to utilize this process to remove CFX from aqueous
solutions.
