Removal of doxycycline antibiotics in water with adsorbents derived from banana peels

This study evaluated the antibiotic removal efficiency of doxycycline (DOX) of biochar prepared from banana peels with different temperatures. Factors affecting antibiotic adsorption (including pH, initial DOX concentration, contact time, biochar dose) were studied. The results show that biochar generated at high temperature (800 oC) and modified by KOH (BP-KOH), has higher antibiotic adsorption capacity than those at low temperature (no pyrolysis and 500 oC pyrolysis, BP and BP500 respectively). The properties of the materials were determined by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FITR), zeta potential, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis methods. The SEM image shows that the fabricated material contains many pores. FTIR spectra show that the fabricated material contains surface functional groups such as O - H, C - H, C - C, etc. The BET results show that high surface area of BP-KOH (710.214 m2/g). The DOX adsorption capacity (120 mg/L) of BP-KOH obtained a high treatment efficiency of 97.9% with an adsorption time of 1440 minutes (24 h) with an optimal pH of 6. Research results showed found that adsorbent made from banana peel has great potential in the application of antibiotic treatment in water.