Removal of the antibiotic tetracycline by Fe-impregnated SBA-15

摘要

We prepared Fe-impregnated mesoporous silicates to investigate the adsorption of tetracycline in aqueous solution. Mesoporous silicates with different Fe content (5, 10, 30, 50 wt%) were prepared by an incipient wetness method. Adsorption kinetics for tetracycline showed that Fe-impregnation improved the adsorption ability for tetracycline. By fitting the adsorption kinetic data to a pseudo second-order model, we obtained a maximum adsorption amount of tetracycline with Fe_(30)SBA-15 (30 wt% Fe-impregnated mesoporous silicates) at 41.7 mg/g. The pH dependency of tetracycline adsorption exhibited a volcano curve where the maximum adsorption onto the Fe_(30)SBA-15 sample occurred in the neutral pH region. The introduction of Fe species into the SBA-15 revived the adsorption ability for tetracycline, whereas there was no interaction between tetracycline and SBA-15, a mesoporous silicate. These results suggest that impregnated Fe species produce an effective interaction with tetracycline in an aqueous system.