Effective column adsorption of triclosan from pure water and wastewater treatment plant effluent by using magnetic porous reduced graphene oxide.

Abstract

The ubiquitous presence of triclosan (TCS) in aquatic systems is of great concern. In the present work, magnetic porous reduced graphene oxide (MPrGO) was synthesized via in situ chemical co-precipitation of Fe3+and porous graphene oxide and, was used as an adsorbent for the removal of TCS with μg/L level from both pure water and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent by conducting with continuous flow fixed column. The BET surface area of MPrGO (1070\u2009m2/g) was about tenfold higher than that of commercial powder activated carbon (PAC). Fast adsorption equilibrium can be reached within 20\u2009s, the maximum adsorption capacity of TCS on MPrGO reached 1105.8\u2009mg/g, and the sorbent can be regenerated for reusability about 5 cycles. The breakthrough time was 50 days for the bed depth of 2.3\u2009mm at the inlet TCS concentration of 100\u2009μg/L. MPrGO exhibited a much higher affinity toward TCS than PAC as the breakthrough time for MPrGO was 6.5 times longer than that for PAC. The Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models provide a better fitting curve than that by the Adams-Bohart model. High TCS adsorption capacity of 935.3\u2009mg/g was calculated from WWTP effluent.