Background and Objective: Extreme use of antibiotics and discharging to the environment lead to serious consequences. Mesoporous silica such as MCM-41 material is widely used to absorb contaminants from the aqueous solution. The aim of this study was to evaluate mesoporous synthesis of MCM-41 and its efficacy for removal of the antibiotic cephalexin from aqueous solution.
Materials and Methods: Physical characteristics and absorbent structure synthesized by techniques BET, FTIR and XRD were analyzed. The effect of variables such as pH values (3, 7, 11), the dose of MCM-41 (200, 500, 800 mg/L), initial concentration of cephalexin (50, 75, 100 mg/L), contact time (30, 60, 90 min), and process temperature (20, 30, 40 0C) on absorption of cephalexin were studied. In order to achieve the optimal experimental conditions, response surface methodology (RSM) model was used.
Results: The results showed that pH (p=0.0001), adsorbent dose (p=0.0001), initial concentration of cephalexin (p=0.0001), contact time (p=0.01), pH2 (p=0.0002) and pH (p=0.04) and initial concentration had a significant impact on the response variable. The optimum removal condition based on analysis of variance and the model was at the reaction time 90 min, pH 3, initial concentration 50 mg/L and adsorption dose 600 mg/L. Under these conditions, the removal efficiency of 81.1% was achieved.
Conclusion: The results showed that adsorption process with the mesoporous MCM-41 had a high efficiency on the removal of cephalexin from the aqueous environments.
