Magnetic Fe₃O₄@C nanoparticles as adsorbents for removal of amoxicillin from aqueous solution

In the present study, powder activated carbon (PAC) combined with Fe₃O₄ magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) were used for the preparation of magnetic composites (MNPs-PAC), which was used as an adsorbent for amoxicillin (AMX) removal. The properties of magnetic activated carbon were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Brunaeur, Emmett and Teller and vibrating sample magnetometer. The operational factors affecting adsorption such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial AMX concentration and temperature were studied in detail. The high surface area and saturation magnetization for the synthesized adsorbent were found to be 671.2 m²/g and 6.94 emu/g, respectively. The equilibrium time of the adsorption process was 90 min. Studies of adsorption equilibrium and kinetic models revealed that the adsorption of AMX onto MNPs-PAC followed Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The calculated values of the thermodynamic parameters, such as ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° demonstrated that the AMX adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. It could be concluded that MNPs-PAC have a great potential for antibiotic removal from aquatic media.