Sorption of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) onto a sustainable cotton based adsorbent

The significant rise in contamination of wastewater, water and ground water or sediments with PPCPs is a clear evidence that nowadays applied treatment methods are inefficient in removal of these contaminants. In this study a novel cotton based adsorbent is used for efficient sorption of napmxen (NAP), caffeine (CAF) and triclosan (TCS). The adsorption of tested contaminants differed significantly: the highest amount of PPCPs sorbed was noted for TCS sorption onto CMT9 137 mg g(-1), whereas the lowest adsorbed amount, 19.73 mg g(-1), was observed for NAP sorption onto CMT13. The presence of co-solute affected both the mechanism of sorption and the amount of PPCPs sorbed: in the presence of TCS the sorption of NAP was changed from chemical to physical. Similarly, in the presence of TCS the mechanism of NAP sorption onto CMT13 changed from chemisorption to diffusion inside the pores. The presence of CAF definitely increased NAP sorption and partitioning. The presence of TCS increased CAF sorption, whereas the presence of NAP in the solution increased CAF sorption only onto CMT11. The NAP sorption in the presence of CAF was significantly enhanced and data confirmed that diffusion through the pores is the most often observed mechanism of selected PPCPs sorption onto CMTs. It is believed that the synthesized cotton-based adsorbents offer a unique opportunity for the sustainable PPCP removal from wastewater.