Adsorption study of penicillin onto single-walled carbon nanotubes from kinetics perspective

Water is a precious environmental resource because it is used by nearly all living organisms; therefore, pollution of water resources may be a serious problem in all parts of the world. The pharmaceutical industry produces compounds that are toxic at trace concentrations if released to the environment in water or soil. Penicillin, selected as a model compound in the present study, is widely available in bulk drugs. It is recalcitrant and persistent towards biodegradation and is constituent intermediate of many pharmaceutical industrial effluents. The generation of penicillin containing aqueous wastes during formulation, distribution and field application of antibiotics is often unavoidable.1 Hence, removal of penicillin from wastewater before its discharge is necessary in order to reduce this side effect on the environment and human health. In the last decade, various methods have been proposed to remove the penicillin.2-5 The adsorption method appears to be the best strategy, especially for removal of the moderate and low concentration antibiotic compounds from effluent.

Keywords:

Adsorption , Kinetics , Penicillin , Carbon nanotubes.