High effective removal of tetracycline from water by hierarchical porous carbon: Batch and column adsorption

To enhance the removal efficiency of pharmaceutical antibiotics from water and wastewater by adsorption technology, it is necessary to optimize the porous geometrical structure of carbonaceous adsorbents. In this study, a hierarchical porous carbon that possesses micro/meso bimodal pores (MMC) is synthesized and is employed in the adsorption of tetracycline in both batch mode and column mode. In comparison, microporous carbon, mesoporous carbon and commercial activated carbon (AC) are induced as carbonaceous adsorbents. In batch mode adsorption, the maximum adsorbed amount of tetracycline on MMC reaches 701.31 mg/g, which is twice as much as that on AC. While in the column adsorption process, the treatment capacity and the total adsorbed amount of MMC towards tetracycline are found 10 times greater than those of AC. The porous geometrical structure of the adsorbent is revealed to play an important role in determining the adsorption efficiency in the column adsorption process with limited contact time. The...