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Application of green nanoemulsion to treat contaminated water (bulk aqueous solution) with azithromycin

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Abstract

The present work aimed to remove azithromycin (AZM) from the contaminated aqueous system using a water/ethanol/transcutol/Capryol-90 green nanoemulsion. The drug is identified as a potential pharmaceutical contaminant detrimental for flora and fauna of aquatic lives as well as human health. Green nanoemulsions were tailored and characterized for thermodynamic stability, size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, viscosity, refractive index (RI), and morphological assessment using a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Moreover, nanoemulsions were investigated for percent removal efficiency (%RE) and factors affecting percent removal efficiency (%RE). The results suggested that the developed green nanoemulsions (ANE1–ANE5) were transparent (˂ 200 nm) and stable. ANE5 exhibited the lowest value of globular size (49 nm), PDI (0.17), viscosity (~ 93 cP), and optimum zeta potential (−27.8 mV). The value of %RE depended upon the content of water and Capryol-90 of the nanoemulsion. Furthermore, the value of %RE was found to be increased with increased content of water, whereas this was decreased on increasing the Capryol-90 content in the nanoemulsions. Similarly, on decreasing the values of size and viscosity, the %RE values were observed to be increased. There was insignificant impact of the duration of exposure time on %RE. Thus, the maximum %RE value (96.8%) was obtained by ANE5 from the aqueous solution after 20 min of contact time with ANE5. Thus, this method could be a promising approach to remove AZM from the contaminated water and serve as an alternative to conventional methods.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University for providing necessary resources to conduct this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, 11942, Saudi Arabia

    Obaid Afzal & Abdulmalik S.A. Altamimi

  2. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11541, Saudi Arabia

    Afzal Hussain & Raisuddin Ali

Authors
  1. Afzal Hussain
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  2. Obaid Afzal
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  3. Abdulmalik S.A. Altamimi
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  4. Raisuddin Ali
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Contributions

Obaid Afzal: conceptualization, drafting, and writing. Afzal Hussain: data curation. Abdulmalik S.A. Altamimi: software, data curation and formal review. Raisuddin Ali: software and analysis

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Correspondence to Obaid Afzal.

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Responsible Editor: Santiago V. Luis

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Highlights of the study

1. Pharmaceuticals-contaminated wastewater challenged human health and aquatic lives

2. Azithromycin (AZM) is commonly used antibiotic and exposed in water as effluent

3. Nanoemulsion could be a promising approach to remove AZM

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Hussain, A., Afzal, O., Altamimi, A.S. et al. Application of green nanoemulsion to treat contaminated water (bulk aqueous solution) with azithromycin. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 61696–61706 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15031-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15031-w

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