Browsing by Author "Olivera, Agustina Raquel de"
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- Biosorption of pharmaceuticals from wastewater using Moringa oleífera as biosorbentPublication . Olivera, Agustina Raquel de; Martins, Ramiro; Kreutz, Cristiane; Galián, CarlosPharmaceuticals as emerging contaminants have become one of the most controversial environmental issues at global scale. Over the years, there has increased the presence of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs inside rivers, lakes, oceans and even inside drinking water streams. The waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs) lack the necessary technology to remove a concentration between the range ng/l-mg/l and therefore, the need to develop new methods able to remove contaminants in an effective, low cost and environmental friendly way arises. The term “Biosorption” appears as a possible solution. It is a separation process inside the area of Chemical Engineering that follows the same fundaments of adsorption with the only difference that uses biodegradable materials as adsorbent (biosorbent). The present work focuses on studying the potential adsorption capacity of Moringa oleífera (MO) to remove Diclofenac (DCF) and Oxytetracycline (OTC) from waste-water. After different experiments, it was found that in both cases (DCF and OTC) the adsorption processes present high pH dependence, the first one governed by the mechanism of chemisorption while the second one could be controlled by diffusion of the particles between both surfaces. Equilibrium isotherms were determined by Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips models. In both cases, the adsorption process was best described by the Freundlich model (R2>0.97). Kinetics essays were described by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and Intraparticle diffusion models. The experimental data of OTC and DCF removal were best fitted by Intraparticle Diffusion (R2>0.95) and pseudo-second-order (R2>0.93) model respectively. It was possible to obtain a removal percentage of 88% for DCF at a pH of 2 and 50% for OTC at a pH of 10, indicating that MO represents a viable option for the removal of drugs present in contaminated water.