Efficient adsorption and removal of tetracycline antibiotics from aqueous solutions onto nickel oxide nanoparticles via organometallic chelate

• Published in: Desalination and water treatment 2022-11, Vol.277, p.190-205
• Main Authors: Alsuhaibani, Amnah Mohammed, Refat, Moamen S., Atta, A.A., El-Desouky, M.G., El-Bindary, A.A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Isotherm; Kinetics; Tetracycline; Thermodynamics
• ISSN: 1944-3986
• DOI: 10.5004/dwt.2022.29028

In recent years, the use of antibiotics as a dietary additive to promote animal growth has significantly grown in both human and animal breeding. The identification of residues in water and wastewater is a result of this regular use. As a result, the creation of new bacterial strains that are resistant to these antibiotics has the potential to cause fatal livestock infections as well as the transmission of these strains to people. This research aims to utilize NiO nanosphere, which is produced through calcination of organometallic chelate. When employed as a tetracycline absorbent, 662 mg·g–1 of its strong adsorption capability were shown. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and the generated NiO was examined using X-ray diffraction, including the 119.12 m2·g–1 variable surface area for the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller model. Using scanning electron microscopy, it has become routine to measure surface changes. The tetracycline (TC’s) capacity for adsorption under varied experimental circumstances (contact time, TC initial concentration, and pH values) was also examined. The developed adsorbent demonstrated improved TC adsorption capabilities at pH = 7, according to experimental results. The TC adsorption isotherms and kinetics best fitted Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order model as the (R2 > 0.999) for both models. The catalytic reduction of TC by NiO and the activation energy of 24.8 kJ·mol–1 both provided evidence that chemical reactions were primarily in charge of these processes. Additionally, by researching how temperature affects reactions, scientists can pinpoint thermodynamic variables like ΔG°, ΔH°, and ΔS° that confirm spontaneous endothermic reactions are more efficient at removing negative energy. Last but not least, the removal efficiency of TC in actual wastewater peaked at 97.6%, where even after 5 reuse cycles still maintained a commendable 93.6%.