Investigation on the Removal of Entacapone From Contaminated Water Using Magnetic-Activated Carbon

Backround Pharmaceutical resources are becoming increasingly problematic contaminants of water resources, particularly in surface and groundwater sources located around industrial and residential communities. They enter water sources mostly through discharges from pharmaceutical industries and municipal wastewater. Consumption of water contaminated with pharmaceutical discharges can have several harmful effects like acute and chronic toxicity in humans. Another critical concern regarding pharmaceutical discharges in water sources is the development of bacterial resistance to medicinal treatment of bacterial infections.
Materials & Methods The activated carbon was purchased from Merck Co. A stock solution of 1000 mg/L of entacapone was prepared by dissolving 1.0 g entacapone in 1 L distilled water. In this study, two types of contaminated water (aqueous solution and contaminated real water) were prepared and examined. The aqueous solution was made from mixing aliquots of entacapone stock solution with distilled water. To determine the remaining entacapone in the samples, they were analyzed by a Hach UV-VIS spectrophotometer (DR5000).
Results This study showed that activated carbon could be functionalized with magnetic nanoparticles and such magnetic-activated carbon could be used as adsorbents for the removal of entacapone from water samples. The results showed that contact time, sample pH, concentration of entacapone, and concentration of the adsorbent were effective on the removal process. The equilibrium results showed the best fit with Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 357.1 mg/g.
Conclusion We described here the preparation of magnetic-activated carbons in one reaction step, and the prepared carbon was used as the adsorbents to remove entacapone from water samples rapidly and effectively. The magnetic nanoparticles can be well immobilized on activated carbons and easily separated from the solution using an external magnet. The results revealed that magnetic-activated carbons could be used as the potential adsorbents for removing entacapone from environmental water.