A Sustainable Nanoporous Adsorbent for Reducing Amoxicillin in Pharmaceutical Wastewater: Magnetic Tea Waste Hydrochar

Abstract

In this research, a sustainable approach to augmenting nanoporous and high-capacity adsorbents widely employed in amoxicillin (AMX) removal from pharmaceutical wastewater was introduced in this study. Iron oxide particles were incorporated into tea factory waste material under microwave hydrothermal carbonization, aiming to produce a green and enhanced magnetic adsorbent material. The chemical structure, morphology, and surface charge of the magnetic tea waste hydrochar (MTWHC) were characterized. The results show that the synthesized nanoporous magnetic tea waste hydrochar has an average pore diameter of 1.90 nm. The value of the SBET was measured at about 30.22 cm²/g for the MTWHC. Furthermore, the adsorbent showed a remarkable maximum removal efficiency of 93.8%, highlighting its significant potential for implementation in wastewater treatment. The Freundlich isotherm was a good fit to the experimental data, indicating that the multilayer adsorption mechanism is responsible for its compatibility and an adsorption capacity of 3.2047 mg/g was measured using this method. This approach not only introduces an environmentally friendly modification to a widely used material but also highlights the potential of magnetic tea waste hydrochar as an innovative additive in composite matrices. This research is an important contribution to the ongoing development of advanced, sustainable composites with a lower environmental impact.