Activated Olive Stones as a Low-Cost and Environmentally Friendly Adsorbent for Removing Cephalosporin C from Aqueous Solutions

Gerardo León, Francisco Saura, Asunción María Hidalgo and Beatriz Miguel
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Gerardo León: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 30203 Cartagena, Spain
Francisco Saura: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 30203 Cartagena, Spain
Asunción María Hidalgo: Department Chemical Engineering, Campus of Espinardo, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Beatriz Miguel: Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII, 30203 Cartagena, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: In this paper, we describe the removal of cephalosporin C (CPC) from aqueous solutions by adsorption onto activated olive stones (AOS) in a stirred tank. For comparative purposes, several experiments of adsorption onto commercial granular activated carbon were carried out. A quantum study of the different species of cephalosporin C that, depending on the pH, exist in aqueous solution pointed to a favorable mass transfer process during adsorption. Activated olive stones were characterized by SEM, EDX and IR techniques and their pH zc was determined. A 10 ?3 M HCl cephalosporin C solution has been selected for the adsorption experiments because at the pH of that solution both electrostatic and hydrogen bond interactions are expected to be established between the adsorbate and the adsorbent. The adsorption process is best described by the Freundlich isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, while the adsorption mechanism is mainly controlled by film diffusion. Under the conditions studied, the adsorption process is of a physical nature, endothermic and spontaneous. Comparison of the adsorption results obtained in this paper with those of other authors shows that the efficiency of AOS is 20% of that of activated carbon but 65% higher than that of the XAD-2 adsorbent. Considering its low price, abundance, easy accessibility and eco-compatibility, the use of activated olive stones as adsorbents for the removal of emerging pollutants from aqueous solutions represents an interesting possibility from both the economic and the environmental points of view.

Keywords: biosorption; agricultural wastes; emerging pollutants; equilibrium; kinetics; thermodynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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