Adsorption of low concentration ceftazidime from aqueous solutions using impregnated activated carbon promoted by Iron, Copper and Aluminum

Graphical abstract: The graphic abstract describes the research that we used modified activated carbons impregnated with iron nitrate, copper nitrate and aluminium nitrate to adsorb ceftazidime from aqueous solution. The surface functional groups of the modified activated carbons were different, and thus resulted in the big difference in the adsorption performance of the modified activated carbons. The theory and the experiments both showed the preferable adsorption of ceftazidime could be achieved on modified activated carbons. - Highlights: • Three modified activated carbons were prepared by impregnating metal nitrate. • Characteristics of the modified activated carbons were analyzed. • Adsorption capacity of ceftazidime on modified activated carbons was improved. • The adsorption behavior of ceftazidime on modified activated carbons were revealed. • The nature of ceftazidime adsorption on modified activated carbons was elucidated. - Abstract: In this paper, three impregnated activated carbon IAC (AC-Cu, AC-Fe, and AC-Al) promoted by Iron, Copper and Aluminum were used for adsorption of ceftazidime. Iron(III), Copper(II) and Aluminum(III) nitrate were used as an impregnant. The IACs were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyzer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS).The influence of factors, such as ion strength, pH, temperature, initial concentration, and concentration of natural organic matter organic matter on the adsorption process were studied. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms of ceftazidime were studied for the three IACs. The results showed that the adsorption was accurately represented by pseudo-second order model. Under different temperature, the maximum adsorption quantity of ceftazidime on AC-Cu calculated by pseudo-second order kinetic model were 200.0 mg g⁻¹ (298 K), 196.1 mg g⁻¹ (303 K) and 185.2 mg g⁻¹ (308 K). It was much higher than that of AC-Fe and AC-Al. And the process was controlled by both film diffusion and intra particle mass transport. The results also showed that, the Freundlich and Temkin isotherm fit the adsorption well.