Adsorption of Pharmaceutical Contaminants from Aqueous Solutions Using N,O-Carboxymethyl Chitosan/Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) Electrospun Nanofibers

Residues of pharmaceutical and direct metabolites discharged into the aquatic environment have become a challenge for wastewater treatment facilities due to their increase in concentration and their different physicochemical properties. These emerging contaminants are daily detected in surface water and wastewater discharged by municipalities. To remediate the contaminated water, various methods are currently used including primary, secondary, and tertiary advanced treatments. However, some economic and environmental limitations have forced the scientific community to develop alternative disinfection processes to purify wastewater. As such, the adsorption strategy represents a “green” low-cost and effective solution to remove pollutants from water. In this study, a nanomaterial made of N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan (N,O-CMCS) was prepared using chitosan (CS) and monochloroacetic acid under various conditions. N,O-CMCS electrospun was synthetized with the copolymer polyethylene oxide (PEO) to create nanofiber membranes showing a better specificity toward diversified contaminants depending on the pH of medium. The developed adsorbent was used to remove fluoxetine (FLX) from aqueous solutions. The new nanomaterial was characterised using FTIR, NMR, and SEM techniques. Sorption batch tests were carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography and ultraviolet diode array detector (HPLC-UV DAD) under controlled pH experimental conditions to determine the contaminant removal capacity of the nanomaterial. The promising adsorption results obtained with N,O-CMCS/PEO nanofibers are among the best ones obtained so far in comparison to other commercial and synthetized adsorbents tested for FLX’s adsorption. Kinetic experiments were also performed to investigate effects of contact times on the FLX adsorption. Experimental results were fitted to both common kinetic models pseudo-first and second order. The latter kinetic model described the best the sorption on surface. It revealed a possible chemisorption mechanism with electrostatic bounding for N,O-CMCS/PEO nanofibers.