Adsorptive Removal of Residual Antibiotics Pollutants from Waste Solutions Using Gamma-Induced Preparation of Nanocomposites Based on Sodium Alginate and Nano Bovine Serum Albumin

Abstract

Pollution of wastewater with used antibiotics is one of the biggest environmental problems. The main objective of this paper is to contribute to solving this problem by preparing nanocomposites of sodium alginate/acrylic acid and bovine serum albumin nanoparticles (NALG-g-PAc/nBSA) using gamma radiation techniques as a clean source of cross-linking and initiation. BSA nanoparticles were synthesized utilizing the desolvation method and the TEM image confirmed the nBSA was prepared in the range of 7.8 nm. The hydrogels and their nanocomposites were investigated utilizing FTIR spectroscopy, SEM patterns, and XRD, which revealed the entrapment of bovine serum albumin nanoparticles within the produced hydrogel matrix. Swelling studies demonstrated that NALG-g-PAc/nBSA nanocomposites have the highest swelling % reaching 4400% after 6 h of equilibrium time. The adsorption studies illustrated a superior adsorption capacity for removing residue hazardous and toxic antibiotic resistance bacteria, ceftriaxone sodium antibiotic (CFA), which reached 90.2%. The kinetic and isotherm studies of adsorption confirmed that the nanocomposites follow the pseudo-first-order and the Freundlich models, respectively. The thermodynamic analysis demonstrated that the adsorption process is spontaneous and endothermic. The results revealed that the NALG-g-PAc/nBSA nanocomposite is an excellent absorbent for removing hazardous and toxic CFA antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) from waste solutions. The novelty of this study is its low cost and easy preparation, as well as its high efficiency toward polluted antibiotics.