performance evaluation of paroxetine adsorption using various types of activated carbon

This study was performed to investigate the ability of three different types of activated carbon to remove paroxetine from wastewater through adsorption. these types were extruded activated carbon (eac), granular-activated carbon (gac), and powdered-activated carbon (pac). the three adsorbents were investigated using atomic force microscope, x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. the results showed that the adsorption was dependent on the ph, and the removal efficiency of paroxetine increased with a decrease in ph value. the maximum removal efficiencies were 34, 40, and 86.5% for eac, gac, and pac, respectively, at a ph of 4.5. kinetic studies showed that the adsorption of paroxetine onto the three adsorbents can be expressed by pseudo-second-order kinetics. the intra-particle adsorption model showed that the adsorption mechanism of paroxetine using these adsorbents was controlled by a multistep mechanism. the boyd kinetic model indicated that the liquid film diffusion be involved in controlling the adsorption of paroxetine on the three adsorbents. equilibrium studies showed that the adsorption isotherms could be expressed by the freundlich, temkin, and dubinin–radushkevich isotherms for eac, gac, and pac, respectively. the change in morphologies of adsorbents confirmed the occurrence of adsorption.