Remarkable remove of sulfa drugs from water by one-pot synthesized recyclable composite based on wool and (Co & Ni)-BTC

Abstract

Antibiotics are widely used to treat different infections, and consequently they are discharged in the wastewater after human desecration, causing pollution of aquatic system. Therefore, the current study focused on removal of sulfa drugs as broad spectrum antibiotics from water by metal (Co & Ni)-benzene tricarboxylic acid (M−BTC) incorporated within wool. M (Co & Ni)-BTC was synthesized and incorporated within wool network matrix in one-pot process. The obtained M−BTC@wool composites were exploited in the removal of two different sulfa drugs namely; sulfamethazine and sulphanilamide. Adsorption of both of sulfa drugs onto composites was kinetically followed the pseudo-second order and Langmuir isotherm model. M−BTC@wool composites showed higher affinity towards sulfamethazine rather than sulphanilamide. The maximum Langmuir capacities of Co-BTC@wool and Ni-BTC@wool composites were 360.21 & 420.38 mg/g for sulfamethazine and 239.25 & 292.44 mg/g for sulphanilamide, respectively. By incorporation of Ni-BTC within wool, the adsorption capacity of sulfamethazine and sulphanilamide was enlarged by factor of 1.77 and 1.92, respectively. The applied composites were exhibited with quite good reusability and their efficiency in the removal of sulfamethazine and sulphanilamide was decreased by only 14.8 – 15.9 % and 11.3 – 12.7 %, respectively, after six consecutive adsorption cycles.