Synthesis of high porous carbon from grape marc-vinasse mixture: investigation on tetracycline and ciprofloxacin removal performance and adsorption mechanisms

In this study, adsorption, a promising technique due to its simplicity and high efficiency, was used to remove tetracycline and ciprofloxacin from water. One-step activated carbon production from lignocellulosic waste uses an environmentally friendly, effective, economical, and sustainable adsorbent. The study aimed to remove TC and CP from an aqueous solution. The effect of parameters such as pH (3-11), biosorbent dose (0.25-5 g/L), initial antibiotic concentration (10-150 mg/L), and contact time (5-240 min) on adsorption was investigated. It was observed that the adsorption process was relatively fast, and equilibrium was reached within 120 and 90 min for tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, respectively. Furthermore, it showed the best correlation with the Langmuir isotherm model. The theoretical capacities of crude activated carbon waste to adsorb tetracycline and ciprofloxacin were determined as 29.16 and 46.37 mg/g, respectively. The experimental results obtained in this study indicate that this agricultural waste can be used as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective adsorbent to remove some classes of antibiotics from aqueous solutions, thus contributing to the solution of the problem of the uncontrolled presence of these drugs in wastewater.