Adsorption Properties of Thermally Treated Rice Husk for Removal of Sulfamethazine Antibiotic from Pharmaceutical Wastewater
Davoud Balarak
Department of Environmental Health, Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
Fatemeh Bandani
Student Research Committee, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
Zaccheus Shehu
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Gombe State University, Nigeria.
Nehad J. Ahmed *
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Equilibrium sorption of the Thermally Treated Rice Husk (TTRH) for Sulfamethazine (SMT) adsorption was studied. The Physico-chemical properties of the modified rice husk were determined. The equilibrium sorption data were fitted into Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherms. Of the three adsorption isotherm, the R2 value of Langmuir isotherm model was the highest. Also compared to other isotherms the AARE coefficient for the Langmuir isotherm is low, which indicates favorable sorption. The maximum monolayer coverage (qm) from Langmuir isotherm model was determined to be 19.11 mg/g, the separation factor indicating a favorable sorption experiment is 0.446. Also from Freundlich Isotherm model, the sorption intensity (n) which indicates favorable sorption and the correlation value are 1.84 and 3.79 respectively. The mean free energy was estimated from Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm model to be 9.18 KJ/mol which clearly proved that the adsorption experiment followed a physical process.
Keywords: Isotherm model, thermally treated rice husk, sulfonamide antibiotics, AARE