Adsorptive Removal of Ampiclox from Aqueous Solution using Treated Okobo Coal

Abstract

This research work assessed the performance of Okobo coal for sorptive treatment of binary solution containing Ampicillin (AMP) and  Cloxacillin (CLO) in a brand name called Ampiclox using analytical techniques. The Okobo coal adsorbent was activated by impregnating it  with 1M H₃PO₄. Batch adsorption method was adopted for the adsorption studies. The adsorbent prepared was subjected to classical  and instrumental techniques. The classical techniques were Attrition, conductivity, pH, bulk density and specific surface area while the instrumental techniques were limited to FTIR, SEM and TGA. The Attrition of the adsorbent was (5.4 %), conductivity (26 μS/cm), pH (6.11),  Bulk density (1.78±0.03 g/cm³ ) and specific surface area (189.4 m² /g). All these values were similar to other activated carbon  adsorbents used in the literatures. The FTIR shows clear peaks after adsorption indicating the presence of new bonds which were coming  from the adsorbate. Four adsorption isotherms (Henry, Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin) were used to fit the data to describe  the adsorption and all fitted the data with Langmuir been the best model for the experiment with R² values of 0.991 and 0.994 for AMP  and CLO respectively. For the transport models plotted (Film diffusion and intraparticle diffusion model) the diffusion of the antibiotics  onto the adsorbent was multi-mechanistic since the plots of the transport models deviate from origin. The statistical result of the  analyses obtained indicated that there was no statistical difference between the adsorption of Ampiclox by Okobo coal adsorbent and  CAC (commercial activated carbon). Therefore, it can be concluded that the adsorbent prepared was good for carrying out adsorption  studies given the results presented herein for the adsorption of Ampiclox.