Contact
    Start Publications Adsorption of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics at the Gas-Liquid ...
    ←  Publication Finder
    Attension

    Adsorption of Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics at the Gas-Liquid Interface Using Ionic Surfactants

    Year: 2019

    Journal: Langmuir, Volume 35, OCT 1, page 12839–12850

    Authors: Ghosh, Rajesh; Hareendran, Haritha; Subramaniam, Pushpavanam

    Organizations: Indo-UK water quality research program - India's Department of Science and Technology; Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [DST/TM/INDO-UK/2K17/46]

    The overuse of antibiotics in today's society has resulted in high concentrations of pharmaceutical contaminants in the natural environment. In this work, we investigated the surfactant-mediated adsorption of fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotics at the gas liquid interface and their separation using a semi-batch foam fractionation process. FQs being a zwitterionic compound have an affinity to bind with both cationic and anionic surfactants. The adsorption of FQs to the gas liquid interface was investigated using a cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant. Ciprofloxacin (CF) was chosen as a model FQ antibiotic. The adsorption properties of the surfactant systems and CF were characterized using pendant-drop tensiometry and surface excess analysis. It was found that CF partitions to the gas liquid interface more readily in the presence of SDS compared to CTAB. This was also corroborated in the foam fractionation experiments. At optimum operating conditions, CF showed a higher removal efficiency with (96.3%) compared to CTAB (52%). In spite of strong molecular interactions between CTAB and CF, the preferential adsorption of DS--CF complexes was far greater than CTA(+)-CF complexes. At optimized operating conditions, using SDS as the surfactant, other FQs such as norfloxacin, levofloxacin, and ofloxacin were recovered up to 97.9, 91.7, and 96.7%, respectively, with effluent concentration less than 100 nM. Overall, the work demonstrates foam fractionation as a novel and environment-friendly gas liquid separation technique for the targeted rem(o)val of FQ antibiotics from waterbodies.
    View publication