Sorption of four antibiotics onto pristine biochar derived from macadamia nutshell

In this study, the sorption properties of ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim on biochar derived from macadamia nut shells were investigated. The raw biomass was pyrolyzed at 600 °C to create a highly porous material with a surface area of 392 m2 g−1. The produced biochar was found to be a valuable material for both environmental remediation and carbon sequestration due to its high carbon and oxygen content. The sorption properties of four antibiotics on the produced biochar were compared using Bayesian nonlinear regression based on second-order kinetics and the Langmuir model. The Bayesian estimation successfully compared the adsorption coefficients of the antibiotics, which can be directly visualized through graphical grammar using the probability density distribution. The results demonstrated the ability of macadamia nut shell biochar to remove antibiotics from water at neutral pH, and this material has the potential to be used for treating other emerging contaminants.