Abstract
Clay minerals are low-cost and environmentally benign natural adsorbents with huge potential for removing micropollutants from aqueous solutions owing to their intrinsic surface properties. In this study, montmorillonite and kaolin clay minerals were activated using NaNO3 and HNO3 to develop activated montmorillonite- kaolin clay composites (AMKCC) material for the sequestration of ciprofloxacin (CIP) from aqueous solution. The developed AMKCC was characterized using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Brunauer-emmett-teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The BET analysis reveals an improved BET surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of 139.13 m2/g, 0.17 cm3/g and 2.18 nm, respectively. At optimum conditions, pH (3.56), initial concentration (16.74 mg/L), time (77.9 mins) and adsorbent dosage (0.4 g), the percentage of ciprofloxacin removed from aqueous solution was 97 %. The adsorption of ciprofloxacin (CIP) using AMKCC was spontaneous, feasible, endothermic, and followed Freundlich isotherm with pseudo-second-order kinetics. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of AMKCC is 344.82 mg/g. The desorption studies revealed HCl as the best eluent for AMKCC regeneration. Therefore, AMKCC has considerable potential for the adsorption of pharmaceuticals from aqueous solution.
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