Efficient removal of tetracycline by CoO/CuFe2O4 derived from layered double hydroxides

Abstract

Health concerns have been raised over the excessive occurrences of antibiotics such as tetracycline in aquatic environments. Adsorption is a simple and cheap technique for the removal of pharmaceuticals from industrial wastewater. To date, limited information exists on the fate, economical treatment and safe disposal of spent adsorbents in the environment, and this is often consideredas the main drawback of adsorption. In this article, an alternative strategy to dispose and reuse spent inorganic adsorbents is proposed. We synthesized CoO/CuFe2O4 mixed metal oxide from layered double hydroxides by a modified co-precipitation and calcination method at 500 degrees C for 5h. CoO/CuFe2O4 has a 348.5m(2)/g surface area, pH point zero charge of 5.8 and an average pore diameter of 5.8nm. Results show that the tetracycline removal efficiency at pH 6 reached 96.6% and 84-87.3% in the absence and in the presence of 4g/L competing ions (Cl- and NO3-), respectively. Moreover, CoO/CuFe2O4 retained stable activities, of about 90%, over five consecutive recycling runs. Spent CoO/CuFe2O4 was reused as a catalyst in the presence of sunlight for degradation of azo dye, and this is the first report of achieving similar to 77% discolouration of eriochrome black T dye using a recycled adsorbent.