Response surface methodology-optimized removal of chloramphenicol pharmaceutical from wastewater using Cu3(BTC)2-derived porous carbon as an efficient adsorbent

Abstract

Abstract The prevalent presence of antibiotic compounds (e.g., chloramphenicol [CAP]) in wastewater and effluents without pretreatment can bring adverse impacts on human and animals; therefore, the remediation of these substrates is emergently essential. To synthesize the novel mesoporous carbon for chloramphenicol remediation, we pyrolyzed a species of copper-based metal-organic framework, namely Cu3(BTC)2 (BTC = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid), at 700\xa0°C, characterized by several physical analytical techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm measurement. The procedure to optimize the optimum conditions for the removal of CAP was conducted based on investigating three factors including concentration (1.6–18.4\xa0mg/L), adsorbent dosage (0.08–0.92\xa0g/L), and pH (2.6–9.4). As a consequence, up to 87.6% of chloramphenicol could be removed from water under these conditions. Moreover, the effects of contact time (0–120\xa0min) and concentration (10–40\xa0mg/L), as well as other adsorption kinetic and isotherm models, were vigorously studied. With a relatively high surface area (78.8\xa0m2/g), many functional groups on the surface (2.44\xa0mmoL/g for acidic and base groups), and high maximum adsorption capacity (37.2\xa0mg/g), the mesoporous carbon from Cu3(BTC)2 can be used as an efficient adsorbent for CAP removal from wastewater.