Adsorption potential of the granular activated carbon for the removal of amoxicillin from water

Antibiotics are important pollutants of water resources، and because of hard biodegradability، they can be filtered through adsorption method. Activated carbon is one of the best adsorbents. The aim of this study was to investigate the amoxicillin removal rate of a standard granular activated carbon. The adsorption experiments were conducted in the stirred (100 rpm) glass reactor. In each test، 50 ml of aqueous solution contaminated by amoxicillin was transferred into the reactor، and the influence of adsorbent dose، adsorbent type، amoxicillin concentration، reaction time، solution pH and temperature was tested on the amoxicillin adsorption. At the end of each of adsorption tests، the suspension was filtered using a cellulose acetate filter with 0. 45µm pore size and the filtrate was analyzed for residual amoxicillin using HPLC. The obtained data showed that the best conditions for removal of amoxicillin from contaminated water using granular activated carbon were as follow: pH: 6، adsorbent concentration: 1. 6 g/l، reaction time: 60 min، temperature: 25oc. In these conditions up to 86% of amoxicillin (concentration: 50 mg/l) could be adsorb by a granular 16-20 activated carbon. Adsorption onto activated carbon is an efficient method for the removal of non-degradable water pollutants such as antibiotics and toxins.