Amoxicillin Removal from Aquatic Solutions Using Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Background and Continuous input of antibiotics to the environment causes many problems such as antibiotic resistance in pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore، researchers are aiming to find solutions to reduce antibiotics in hospital effluents and polluted waters. Amoxicillin is an antibiotic which is widely used to treat infections. Due to inappropriate use it enters the wastewater and finally the environment in almost unmetabolized form. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of multi-walled carbon nanotubes for Amoxicillin removal from aqueous solutions. In this study the efficacy of multi-walled carbon nanotubes for the removal of amoxicillin was investigated in a batch system considering pH (10-4)، ionic strength (0 to 0. 1 mol/ L sodium chloride)، and adsorbent dose (0. 4 – 1. 8 g /L). Finally، isotherms and kinetics of the adsorption was analyzed. The results showed that the maximum removal of amoxicillin occurred at pH 8. Also، increase in the ionic strength decreased the removal efficiency while increase in the adsorbent dose increased the removal efficiency. The equilibrium adsorption isotherm data well fitted with Langmuir model (R2= 0. 9108) and adsorption kinetics fitted with pseudo second order model. According to the results multi-wall carbon nanotubes could be assumed as an acceptable adsorbent for Amoxicillin removal in the aquatic solutions.