Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from aqueous solutions with metal-organic frameworks

This thesis focused on synthesising metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and using them in liquid phase adsorption because of their tunable textural and chemical functional properties. Zirconium based MOFs, Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs) and MIL (Matérial Institut Lavoisier) family of MOFs have gained particular attention for many potential applications owing to their exceptionally high chemical, thermal and mechanical stability. The aim of this research was to determine MOFs`s viability as adsorbents for the remediation of water contaminated with pharmaceuticals, personal care products and also endocrine disrupting compounds, a known emerging class of organic contaminants. Removal of pharmaceutical compounds and endocrine disrupting compounds from water is of utmost importance due to the need for clean water and pollution prevention/mitigation. The selected MOFs, ZIF-8, UiO-66, UiO-67 and MIL-100(Fe) were synthesised. The materials were characterised using standard characterisation techniques including: Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), N2 sorption isotherm at 77 K and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The materials were evaluated by batch adsorption experiments for the adsorptive removal of atrazine (pesticide), carbamazepine (antiepileptic), triclosan (antibacterial) and a binary mixture of carbamazepine and atrazine with having different hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity and kinetic diameter. Moreover, the regenerability of MOFs was investigated for the removal of range of organic contaminants of interest in this thesis. The observed results revealed that the MOF materials have potential use as promising adsorbents in treatment of contaminated water.