Continuous Flow Adsorption Removal of Glimepiride Using Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes from Water Resources
Date
2020-11-26
Authors
Qut, Obada Fathi Mustafa
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
جامعة النجاح الوطنية
Abstract
In this study, Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were used as adsorbent for the removal of Glimepiride (GPD) drug from aqueous solution. This research has been performed in two stages. First, it was done in batch mode to ensure that the adsorption process occurs naturally by using a stock solution of glimepiride and different weights of MWCNT. The UV-Vis absorbance of GPD was observed to decrease after mixing with MWCNT and the GPD removal was increased when the amount of MWCNT increased. Secondly, a continuous process was applied by which the effects of different parameters were studied. This study showed that carbon nanotubes are effective adsorbents to remove GPD from water in short time with near complete removal. The results also showed that the adsorption process was dependent on the amount of adsorbent, column height, pH, and flow rate. The adsorption efficiency had increased as the amount of adsorbent increased. The adsorption was highly pH dependent and maximum removal was obtained at pH=3. The adsorption efficiency was increasing as the column height increased. In addition, the adsorption efficiency was increasing as the flow rate decreased. The continuous adsorption of GPD was described by Thomas and Adams-Bohart models and found to fit the Thomas model. The regeneration study was carried out and it was found that flushing the column with diluted NaOH was successful in regenerating the fixed-bed column and MWCNT can be reused. In conclusion, this study confirmed that the adsorption process using MWCNT is efficient, simple, and cost-effective which enable it to upgrade from laboratory to industrial scale.