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Paracetamol Removal from Aqueous Solution Through Activated Carbon from Mango Seeds

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Abstract

Introduction

Because of the substantial and widespread usage of drugs for both human and animal health care, drug residues are now pervasive in the environment. During the wastewater treatment process, removing drug residues could not be done entirely, resulting in accumulation in the aquatic environment, potentially impacting biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and public health. This environmental issue has attracted particular attention and prompted scientists to investigate the removal of drug residues in wastewater.

Methods

The utilization of activated carbon from mango seeds to remove paracetamol drug from water is described in this study. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy were used to examine the properties of mango seeds activated carbon (MSAC) that had been chemically treated with phosphoric acid. The effects of initial paracetamol concentration, adsorbent dosage, and contact time on the optimal removal of paracetamol using MSAC were examined through the central composite design.

Results and analysis

Carboxylic acid, amines, alkenes, ketones, ethers, phosphine oxides, aromatics, and alkyl halides were discovered as functional groups in the mesopore and macropore structures of MSAC. The removal efficiency of 94.01?2.16% paracetamol from the water was recorded at optimal conditions:150 ppm initial paracetamol concentration, 1.95 g of MSAC as adsorbent, and 64 min contact time. Freundlich was the best-fitting isotherm model, with a high correlation coefficient (R2=0.9718), showing multilayer development of adsorbate on the heterogeneous MSAC surface. Using kinetic analysis, the most appropriate kinetic model was pseudo-firstorder (R2 = 0.9435), indicating that physisorption is the best mechanism to explain paracetamol adsorption onto 10.1007/s42250-023-00597-4 MSAC.

Conclusion

Overall, the MSAC has a 7.23 mg/g adsorption capacity for paracetamol in water, indicating that it has a lot of potential as a waste-based source of activated carbon for wastewater treatment applications.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study can be available upon request. You may contact the corresponding author for a soft copy of the data if needed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the College of Engineering and Technology of the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines – Claveria for this study’s support. Special thanks to Amley Food Corporation for the waste materials used in the research.

Funding

This work is institutionally funded by the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering and Technology, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, 9004, Claveria, Philippines

    AJ Rosemay Preglo, Jessel Namata, Janeth Caculba, Glyn Sanchez, Cherry Joyno, Efren Pagalan & Renato O. Arazo

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All authors have contributed to the study through conceptualization, laboratory experimentation, data gathering, analysis, and interpretation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Renato O. Arazo.

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Preglo, A.R., Namata, J., Caculba, J. et al. Paracetamol Removal from Aqueous Solution Through Activated Carbon from Mango Seeds. Chemistry Africa 6, 699–710 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42250-023-00597-4

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