Extraction of paracetamol and amoxicillin from synthetic solution using activated carbon

Abstract

The traces of pharmaceutical products present as emerging contaminants in water bodies needs to be extracted since it causes risk to human health and environment, also as these cannot be removed by conventional water treatment processes. The occurrence and fate of pharmaceutical parameters in water bodies in Indian scenario were studied, from which two pharmaceutical parameters, paracetamol and amoxicillin were selected. This paper primarily focuses on the extraction of paracetamol and amoxicillin from its synthetic sample solutions prepared using Activated carbon as the adsorbent. The analysis is done using UV-vis Spectrophotometry and with solutions of different concentration, pH and adsorbent dosages, removal efficiency is calculated in each case. With the optimized pH and concentration of solution, the optimum dosage of activated carbon is determined by comparing its removal efficiencies.