The adsorptive behaviour of electrospun hydrophobic polymers for optimized uptake of estrogenic sex hormones from aqueous media: kinetics, thermodynamics, and reusability study

Abstract Background Estrogenic hormones as micropollutants in water systems cause severe adverse effects on human health and marine life, leading to fatal diseases, such as breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer. Electrospun polymers have proven high stability and impressive performance in adsorption removal. In this study, electrospun polysulfone (PSU), polyvinylidene fluoride, and polylactic acid were prepared and characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier‐transform intrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), surface area measurement X‐Ray diffraction (XRD), and porometry. Results Nanofibers possess a mean fiber diameter of 149–183 nm and a specific surface area of 1.6–6.3 m 2 /g. The adsorption efficiency of the simultaneous removal of estrone (E1), 17β‐estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17α‐ethinylestradiol (EE2) in a mixed concentration was investigated using high performace liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results indicate that spun PSU fibers exhibited the highest removal of all four estrogens, with a maximum removal efficiency of 71.2%, 65.9%, 56.9%, and 36.1% and adsorption capacity of 0.508, 0.703, 0.550, and 0.354 mg/g for E1, EE2, E2, and E3, respectively. Additionally, the adsorption was optimised by varying parameters, such as concentration of adsorbate, pH, adsorbent dosage, and temperature, to statistically analyse one‐way variance using ANOVA. The pseudo‐second‐order is best fitted for E1, EE2, and E2, while the pseudo‐first‐order is best for E3. The Langmuir–Freundlich isothermal model was most suitable for evaluation, and the thermodynamics depicted the adsorption to be exothermic and spontaneous. Conclusion The results indicate that spun PSU can be an efficient adsorbent in the simultaneous elimination of estrogens from wastewater and it exhibits a high regeneration performance of over 60% after six adsorption–desorption cycles. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).