Application of activated carbon-decorated polyacrylonitrile nanofibers as an adsorbent in dispersive solid-phase extraction of fluoroquinolones from wastewater

A cheap and simple sample preparation method, consisting of a dispersive solid-phase method and an adsorbent, activated carbon decorated PAN nanofibers, was employed and used for the extraction of antibiotics(ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin, and enrofloxacin) in wastewater. Electrospun PAN nanofibers that were decorated with activated carbon produced from waste tires were used as the solid phase and the antibiotics analyzed by using high-performance liquid chromatography. Parameters such as pH, mass of adsorbent(MA),extraction volume(EV), and extraction time(ET) were optimized owing to their potential effect on the extraction of antibiotics from water. The recovery of all antibiotics was satisfactory, in the range of 90%–99%.The limits of detection and quantification were 0.05, 0.11, 0.20, and 0.53, 1.21, 2.17 mg/L, respectively. The precision was determined from the repeatability and reproducibility and expressed as the intra-day(n=20)and inter-day(n=5) precision. The intra-day and inter-day precision was reported in terms of the percentage relative standard deviation, which was 3% and 4%, respectively. The adsorption capacity of the activated carbon-decorated PAN nanofibers was satisfactory, and the reusability of the adsorbent was impressive when reused ten times. The accuracy of the dispersive solid phase extraction(DSPE) was validated by spike recovery tests; the results proved the reliability and efficiency of adsorbing antibiotics from wastewater. Finally, the proposed method was applied to wastewater samples collected from a wastewater treatment plant, which included influent, secondary, and effluent wastewater.

Preparation of ferric oxide-aluminium oxide carbon nanofiber nanocomposites for ultrasound-assisted dispersive magnetic solid phase extraction of 17-beta estradiol in wastewater

In this work,Fe3O4-Al2O3@CNFs nanocomposite was synthesised and used as a nanosorbent in the ultrasound-assisted dispersive magnetic solid phase extraction(UA-DMSPE)of 17-beta estradiol(E2)in wastewater samples.The quantification of E2 was achieved using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector(HPLC-DAD).Various parameters affecting the efficiency of this sample preparation technique were optimised to achieve excellent sensitivity and high recoveries of E2.Response surface methodology was utilised for optimisation of these parameters.Using the optimised conditions,the linear dynamic range was achieved in the range of 0.1e1000 mgL^-1and the correlation coefficient was found to be 0.9981.The preconcentration factor,enrichment factor,limit of detection(LOD)and limit of quantification(LOQ)were 67,169,0.025 mgL^-1and 0.083 mg L1,respectively.The relative standard deviation(%RSD)for the intraday(n?10)and interday(n?5 working days)were 1.8%and 3.3%,respectively.The developed UA-DMSPE/HPLC-DAD method was applied for the preconcentration and determination of E2 in wastewater samples.The obtained results indicated that E2 was present in the wastewater samples.

Effective adsorptive removal of amoxicillin from aqueous solutions and wastewater samples using zinc oxide coated carbon nanofiber composite

This study reports the removal of amoxicillin from environmental water matrices using zinc oxide coated carbon nanofibers composite as an adsorbent.The structural and surface properties of zinc oxide coated carbon nanofiber composite were characterized using X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersion x-ray spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy,and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.The factors(sample pH and dosage)influencing the adsorption experiments were optimised using central composite design.Freundlich,Langmuir and Flory-Huggin isotherm models were used to study the adsorption isotherms.The results obtained revealed that the maximum adsorption capacity was up to 156 mg g^-1.The kinetic studies demonstrated that the adsorption process was best described by pseudo-second-order model and the equilibrium data followed Langmuir isotherm model.The optimised batch method was then applied for the removal of amoxicillin in real wastewater samples.In addition,the zinc oxide coated carbon nanofibers nanocomposite was found to reusable up to fifteen cycles.