Browsing by Author "Belgacem, Mohamed Ben"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Biomass-based residues valorization for the removal of sertraline from waters by adsorptionPublication . Ribeiro, António E.; Belgacem, Mohamed Ben; Queiroz, Ana; Brito, PauloPharmaceutical drug reach the environment through several anthropogenic sources being scattered and accumulated
- Biomass-based residues valorization for the removal of sertraline from waters by adsorptionPublication . Ribeiro, António E.; Belgacem, Mohamed Ben; Queiroz, Ana; Brito, PauloPharmaceutical drugs reach the environment through several anthropogenic sources being scattered and accumulated across flora, fauna and all types of aquifers. Many of these compounds are intensively worldwide medical prescribed for the relief of most common diseases related with modern society, such as hormones, antidepressants, analgesics, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, among others. Sertraline is a pharmaceutical drug used for the relief of depressive severe situations. Recent studies refer that some compounds belonging to this pharmaceutical class of drugs, despite of its very low level of concentration in water can be responsible for several and severe side-effects in the environmental fauna and flora based on toxicity and risk predictions.
- Evaluation of activated carbon obtained from olive stones for the removal of sertraline from watersPublication . Belgacem, Mohamed Ben; Ribeiro, António E.; Queiroz, Ana; Brito, PauloThe presence of pharmaceutical drugs, their metabolites and degradation products in the environment requires significant research and monitoring studies to assess the potential risks to human health and to the ecosystem. Due to the extremely low concentrations of these chemicals in the environment in the removal processes must be optimized in order to make them easier, quicker, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly than traditional techniques [1]. Many of these substances, including hormones, antidepressants, analgesics, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories, among others, are heavily medical prescribed around the world to treat the most prevalent illnesses associated with modern society. Sertraline belongs to the pharmaceutical class of anti-depressant and is intensively used worldwide to treat severe cases of depression. According to recent studies, several active principles from this family of pharmaceutical drugs, despite being at very low levels of concentration in water, can have a variety of harmful side effects in the environment's flora and fauna in addition to the potential risk of underground water contamination later used for animal or even human consumption [2-4]. This work will present the main experimental results for the removal of sertraline from water by adsorption using activated carbon obtained from olive stones. The activated carbon material was obtained from olive stones, by powdering the granulated olive stones to a diameter of 0.25 mm, chemically activated with a strong acid and then carbonized. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms were obtained using the batch method and then fitted to different adsorption models, such as the Langmuir or Freundlich models for liquid phase adsorption. The most significant adsorption parameters were optimized, such as the solution pH, mass of the adsorbent used, adsorption contact time and adsorption temperature. The kinetics of the sertraline adsorption on the adsorbent was estimated using the pseudo-first and pseudo-second order models. Obtained results in this work clearly show that olive stones, usually a residue from the Portuguese and Mediterranean oliviculture, can be exploited as a promising and low-cost bio-mass source on the production of adsorbent materials with considerable potential to remove micropollutants, such as the antidepressant sertraline, from water
- Monitoring of emerging micropollutants in water matrices and its removal by adsorption processes using biomass-based materialsPublication . Belgacem, Mohamed Ben; Queiroz, Ana; Ribeiro, António E.; Brito, PauloSertraline is a pharmaceutical drug used for the relief of depressive severe situations. Since sertraline has been widely prescribed for medical purposes in Portugal for the past ten years and may thus be found in various water media, it was employed in this work as a prototype antidepressant molecule for removal investigations using biobased materials, such as olive stones. The present work aims to study the removal of sertraline through adsorption using activated charcoal from the olive pit. Therefore, this work is based on the preparation of the adsorbent from the olive stone, namely activated carbonized then make the physicochemical characterization and study the process of removal of sertraline by the experimental measuring of main operational conditions of pH, mass of adsorbent, temperature and kinetics of adsorption. The removal studies showed that the optimal pH for the adsorption of sertraline was around neutrality, The effect of the olive stone activated carbon dosage on sertraline removal was studied by varying the amount of the adsorbent from 10 mg to 55 mg presenting a maximum adsorption equal to 97% with 55mg in 48h. The adsorption process was chemisorption in nature since the kinetics behavior is better described by the pseudo-second order reaction model.