Physicochemical synthesis of zeolite modified nano-flakes to eliminate emerging pollutants in aquatic environment

Antibiotics play a vital role in controlling the spread of microbial infections by inhibiting or killing harmful pathogens. However, the excessive demand for antibiotics contributes significantly to the emergence of pollutants in aquatic environments, negatively affecting water quality and its physicochemical properties. This study explores the batch adsorption of four distinct antibiotics; Ciprofloxacin (CIP), Sulfamethoxazole (SMX), Tetracycline (TC) and Bisphenol A (BPA), on low cost and efficient zeolite nano-flake particles (ZNF) synthesized using natural clinoptilolite zeolite, selected for its abundance, cost-effectiveness, and inherent adsorption properties. The influence of particle size, duration, adsorbent concentration, and emerging pollutants (EPs) concentration on the adsorption of four basic EPs were also investigated. The results show that ZNF is highly effective in removing the pollutants, with removal efficiencies of 99.95 %, 98.98 %, 99.73 %, and 99.73 % for CIP, SMX, TC, and BPA, respectively. Additionally, the adsorption characteristics such as contact time, concentration, adsorbent dosage, isothermal, and kinetics were also evaluated. To further understand the adsorption process and probable rate-controlling phases, various kinetic equations (pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order) were applied at different time intervals.