Removal of pharmaceuticals from nitrified urine

In this study, granular activated carbon (GAC) was examined for the removal of five of the most commonly detected pharmaceuticals (naproxen, carbamazepine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen and metronidazole) from a nitrified urine to make the urine-derived fertiliser nutrient safe for food crops. Batch expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemosphere (Oxford) 2021-10, Vol.280, p.130870-130870, Article 130870
Main Authors: Almuntashiri, Abdulaziz, Hosseinzadeh, Ahmad, Volpin, Federico, Ali, Syed Muztuza, Dorji, Ugyen, Shon, Hokyong, Phuntsho, Sherub
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Granular activated carbon
Micropollutants
Modelling
Nitrified urine
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Summary:In this study, granular activated carbon (GAC) was examined for the removal of five of the most commonly detected pharmaceuticals (naproxen, carbamazepine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen and metronidazole) from a nitrified urine to make the urine-derived fertiliser nutrient safe for food crops. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the adsorption kinetics that described the removal of micropollutants (equal concentrations of 0.2 mM) from the synthetic nitrified urine at different GAC dosages (10–3000 mg/L). Artificial neural network modelling was also used to predict and simulate the removal of pharmaceuticals from nitrified urine. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models described the equilibrium data, with the Langmuir model providing slightly higher correlations. At the highest dose of 3000 mg/L GAC, all the pharmaceuticals showed a removal rates of over 90% after 1 h of adsorption time and 99% removal rates after 6 h of adsorption time. This study concludes that GAC is able to remove the targeted xenobiotics without affecting the concentration of N and P in the urine, suggesting that nitrified urine could be safely used as a nutrient product in future. [Display omitted] •Granular activated carbon used for removal of pharmaceuticals from nitrified urine.•Activated carbon dose and contact time affected pharmaceutical adsorption kinetics.•Adsorption isotherms was applied for each pharmaceuticals.•Artificial neural network model showed high prediction of pharmaceuticals removal.•Nitrogen and phosphorus adsorption by activated carbon were not very significant.
ISSN:0045-6535
1879-1298
DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130870