Enhanced Separation of Oxytetracycline Hydrochloride in Synthetic Solution Using Natural Clays: Silica and Metakaolinite

Oxy-tetracycline (OTC) and their derivatives are listed as an emerging water contaminant due to their adverse effects to human, biota and the all aquatic environment. Silica and meta-kaolinite (MK) were utilized as promising sorbents for oxy-tetracycline hydrochloride (OTCH) uptake from water. Identifying the optimum parameters (pH and initial concentration of OTCH, sorbent dose, and reaction time) on OTCH adsorption was performed. The characterization properties of the sorbents were identified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Maximum values for OTCH adsorption achieved at pH 5-6 and pH 7 for SiO 2 and MK, respectively. Langmuir model best describe the result data with high dependency on OTCH sorption onto MK yielding its maximum at 165.04 mg/gand moderate dependency for SiO 2 with q max equal to 25.3 mg/g. These results provide additional information about the uses of both clay minerals as a promising economic and environmentally friendly sorbents for wastewater treatment.