Nanocomposites of zirconia@activated carbon derived from a hazelnut shell for the adsorption of tetracyclines from water

Abstract

A nanocomposite of activated carbon derived from hazelnut shell functionalized with zirconia nanoparticles named ZrO₂@AC was prepared via a facile pyrolysis method at 700 °C and was used for the adsorptive removal of tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC), and oxytetracycline (OTC) from water. ZrO₂@AC exhibited high adsorptive capacities for the three antibiotics under the optimal alkaline pH range (9–11 for CTC and 9–10 for TC and OTC) in the following order: CTC (1055.2 mg g⁻¹) > TC (730.8 mg g⁻¹) > OTC (609.6 mg g⁻¹). The adsorptive equilibrium of the three antibiotics by ZrO₂@AC was attained within approximately 15 min. The adsorptive amounts of the three antibiotics increased from 15 to 45 °C. The adsorptive data of the three antibiotics were well fitted with Langmuir and pseudo-second-order equations. The thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adsorption of ZrO₂@AC for the three antibiotics was spontaneous and endothermic. Our findings illustrate that ZrO₂@AC exhibits the potential to diminish tetracycline antibiotics from water.