Removal of antibiotics (sulfamethazine, tetracycline and chloramphenicol) from aqueous solution by raw and nitrogen plasma modified steel shavings

Van Son Tran; Huu Hao Ngo; Wenshan Guo; Cuong Ton-That; Jianxin Li; Jixiang Li; Yi Liu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.164

Removal of antibiotics (sulfamethazine, tetracycline and chloramphenicol) from aqueous solution by raw and nitrogen plasma modified steel shavings

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Dec 1:601-602:845-856. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.164. Epub 2017 Jun 2.

Authors

Van Son Tran¹, Huu Hao Ngo², Wenshan Guo¹, Cuong Ton-That³, Jianxin Li⁴, Jixiang Li⁵, Yi Liu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
² Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: h.ngo@uts.edu.au.
³ School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Hollow Fiber Membrane Materials and Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, PR China.
⁵ Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, Haike Road, Pudong, Shanghai, PR China.

PMID: 28578242
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.164

Abstract

The removal of sulfamethazine (SMT), tetracycline (TC) and chloramphenicol (CP) from synthetic wastewater by raw (M₃) and nitrogen plasma modified steel shavings (M₃-plN₂) was investigated using batch experiments. The adsorption kinetics could be expressed by both pseudo-first-order kinetic (PFO) and pseudo-second-order kinetic (PSO) models, where correlation coefficient r² values were high. The values of PFO rate constant k_1p and PSO rate constant k_2p decreased as SMT-M₃>SMT-M₃-plN₂>TC-M₃-plN₂>TC-M₃>CP-M₃>CP-M₃-plN₂ and SMT-M₃>SMT-M₃-plN₂>TC-M₃>TC-M₃-plN₂>CP-M₃>CP-M₃-plN₂, respectively. Solution pH, adsorbent dose and temperature exerted great influences on the adsorption process. The plasma modification with nitrogen gas cleaned and enhanced 1.7-fold the surface area and 1.4-fold the pore volume of steel shavings. Consequently, the removal capacity of SMT, TC, CP on the adsorbent rose from 2519.98 to 2702.55, 1720.20 to 2158.36, and 2772.81 to 2920.11μg/g, respectively. Typical chemical states of iron (XPS in Fe2p3 region) in the adsorbents which are mainly responsible for removing antibiotics through hydrogen bonding, electrostatic and non- electrostatic interactions and redox reaction were as follows: Fe₃O₄/Fe²⁺, Fe₃O₄/Fe³⁺, FeO/Fe²⁺ and Fe₂O₃/Fe³⁺.

Keywords: Chloramphenicol; Nitrogen plasma modified steel shavings; Steel shavings; Sulfamethazine; Tetracycline.