Adsorptive removal of veterinary antibiotics from water using an integrated photocatalyst (IPCA)

ABSTRACT

The synthesising of a novel catalyst known as the integrated photo-catalysts (IPCA) by impregnating activated carbon (AC) with titanium dioxide (TiO₂) particles by ultra-sonication was used. The kinetics of antibiotics removal using adsorption and photodegradation were monitored and modelled. The effects of photocatalyst concentration and solution pH were investigated. Maximum removal percentages for both AC and IPCA were above 50% for an initial concentration of 100 mg/L. Adsorption using AC and IPCA followed the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Higher coefficients of correlation were obtained for the Langmuir isotherms for four of the antibiotics. With regard to the photodegradation, it was found that photocatalysis attained almost 100% degradation of the target contaminants. Complete degradation was achieved within half-lives of 60 to 102 minutes for all the compounds. Although both photo-catalysts effectively degraded the contaminants, the IPCA had the unique advantages of possessing both adsorptive and photocatalytic properties.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrated
• photo-catalyst
• isotherms
• antibiotics
• photo-catalysis
• wastewater

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Durban University for granting access to research facilities and financial support provided by the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.