ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Green synthesis of activated carbon/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite from flaxseed and its application as adsorbent and antibacterial agent

Mohammad Hossein Fekri, Samaneh Isanejad Mohamareh, Mehdi Hosseini, and Maryam Razavi Mehr

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Ayatollah Borujerdi University, Borujerd, Iran

E-mail: m.h.fekri@abru.ac.ir

Received: 8 November 2021  Accepted: 10 May 2022

Abstract:

In this work, magnetic activated carbon was investigated to remove the antibiotic cefazolin from aqueous solutions as well as its antibacterial properties. To determine the optimal process conditions and achieve maximum efficiency, the effect of pH, temperature, contact time, initial concentration of the drug and composite dosage, using the response surface method and the central composite design model was investigated by the design of experiments software. Structural characteristics and morphology of the nanocomposite were analyzed by using FTIR, XRD, EDAX, SEM, TEM, BET, TGA, and VSM analyses. The results showed that pH = 6, the temperature of 30 °C, contact time of 150 min, initial concentration of drug 20 mg/l, and composite dosage of 0.03 g were the best conditions for removing cefazolin from aqueous solution. In these conditions, the magnetically activated carbon was able to remove 96% of cefazolin. The Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherms were also studied, and the results showed that the absorption behavior is most consistent with the Langmuir isotherm. The results of thermodynamic experiments also showed that the adsorption process is exothermic and spontaneous. Finally, the antibacterial properties of the prepared nanocomposite on Streptococcus and Salmonella were investigated and the results showed that the prepared sample has antibacterial properties.

Keywords: Adsorption; Powdered activated carbon (PAC); Fe3O4; Cefazolin; Response surface methodology (RSM)

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-022-02278-x

Chemical Papers 76 (11) 6767–6782 (2022)