Abstract
17β-Estradiol (E2) is one of the main compounds responsible for estrogenic activities in sewage and natural waters and has been found in these matrices all around the world, thereby justifying the development of technologies for its removal. In this work, pure or TiO2-containing molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) were prepared using E2 as template. The materials were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, adsorption/desorption of N2, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The characterization analyses showed that TiO2 was incorporated in the polymers and that all materials could be characterized as mesoporous and had surface areas ranging from 238 to 279 m2g−1. Adsorption studies showed MIP-TiO2 had a high capacity to adsorb E2 from the water phase leading to qmax values of 15.16 to 26.49 mg g−1 at temperatures from 25 to 45 °C, respectively. In addition, the thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption process is endothermic, spontaneous, and entropically driven. The results also showed that the presence of TiO2 decreases the adsorption performance of MIP-TiO2 when compared with MIP (without the photocatalyst) during the adsorption. However, the application of MIP-TiO2 in a process of adsorption followed by photocatalysis resulted in 100% of E2 removal allowing the reuse of adsorbent. In addition, MIP-TiO2 maintained its E2 removal capacity even after five cycles of regeneration–reuse, which shows the ability of UV light to regenerate the specific adsorption sites. The results presented in this paper show MIP-TiO2 has potential to be applied in water treatment systems to remove E2.
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Funding
The authors are grateful to the following institutions for their financial support: the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP), the Minas Gerais State Research Foundation (FAPEMIG), the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Marina Caldeira Tonucci and Leandro Pablo dos Santos Xavier. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Marina Caldeira Tonucci, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conceptualization: Bruno Eduardo Lobo Baêta, Sérgio Francisco de Aquino, and Adilson Candido da Silva
Methodology: Marina Caldeira Tonucci, Leandro Pablo dos Santos Xavier
Formal analysis and investigation: Bruno Eduardo Lobo Baêta, Marina Caldeira Tonucci, Sérgio Francisco de Aquino, and Adilson Cândido da Silva
Writing, original draft preparation: Marina Caldeira Tonucci
Writing, review and editing: Marina Caldeira Tonucci, Bruno Eduardo Lobo Baêta, Sérgio Francisco de Aquino, and Adilson Candido da Silva
Funding acquisition: Bruno Eduardo Lobo Baêta and Sérgio Francisco de Aquino
Supervision: Bruno Eduardo Lobo Baêta and Sérgio Francisco de Aquino
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Tonucci, M.C., dos Santos Xavier, L.P., da Silva, A.C. et al. Removal of Estradiol from Water with a Hybrid MIP-TiO2 Catalytic Adsorbent. Water Air Soil Pollut 231, 215 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04586-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04586-y