Copper oxide nanoparticles modified activated carbon nanocomposite towards removal of tetracycline from waste water

Current work is aimed to use an easy and highly efficient adsorption technology based on copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) modified activated carbon (AC) to remove tetracycline (Tc) from wastewater. For this purpose, CuO NPs were prepared using thermal reflux method and characterized by using UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transform -Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX). The formed NPs having average particle size below 100 nm were then loaded onto commercially available AC to form Copper oxide Nanocomposite (CuO-NC). CuO-NC was then utilized for the removal of Tc from contaminated water. Batch method was carried out to see the effect of variation of adsorbent concentration, pH, initial tetracycline concentration and was compared with CuO NPs. A maximum 92% of Tc removal at 3.1 g concentration of CuO-NC was obtained. Quantitative analysis of Tc removal was carried out by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Kinetic study revealed pseudo first order adsorption process. The adsorption was best fitted to Langmuir isotherm model indicating that the adsorption is limited to monolayer adsorption. Further, FT-IR spectroscopy data revealed a plausible mechanism of removal of Tc owing to complexation of Tc with CuO NPs.