Ti-pillared montmorillonite clay for adsorptive removal of amoxicillin, imipramine, diclofenac-sodium, and paracetamol from water

Abstract The adsorptive removal of natural montmorillonite (MMT) clay pillared with titanium oxide (Ti-PILC) was examined in this study to see the adsorptive remove of pharmaceutical compounds (PCs): amoxicillin (AMOX), imipramine (IMP), Diclofenac-Sodium (DIF-S), and paracetamol (PCM) from water under a batch-scale study. The post-intercalation changes in clay were investigated with various surface and structural analysis techniques. The results confirm an increase in the surface area, microporosity, and acidic sites (lewis acid) which improved and regulates Ti-PILC interactions with electron-rich PPCPs molecules. The FTIR bands for Si-OH and Al-OH show a shift in MMT, after pillaring, indicates the intercalation of Ti pillared in its interlayer space. The isotherms studies suggested the best fitting of Redlich Peterson models for all pharmaceutical adsorption data. The Langmuir adsorption (maximum) was recorded for Ti-PILC in the order: 82.68 (IMP) > 23.05 (DIF-S) > 20.83 (PCM) > 4.26 (AMOX) mg.g-1 at a fixed adsorbent dose i.e. 0.1 g·L-1. The PCs adsorption kinetics was also evaluated by Pseudo-first-, and second-order model and results showed the best curve fitting for all PCs. Results of regeneration studies showed that modified Ti-PILC could be a low-cost cleaner material for adsorption of pharmaceuticals from water.