Doxorubicin Removal from Water using Acid-treated Activated Carbon, Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes, and Montmorillonite

Medical wastewater is a significant contributor to environmental pollution, posing severe risks to both human health and the environment. To resolve this challenge, the removal of anti-cancer drugs from medical wastewater has been considered. This study investigated the removal of doxorubicin, an effective anti-cancer drug, from an aqueous solution using three types of adsorbents: activated carbon, multi-walled carbon nanotube, and montmorillonite. Our findings revealed that carbon nanotubes exhibited superior performance in doxorubicin removal from water compared to the other two adsorbents. Specifically, the maximum adsorption capacity of doxorubicin with an initial concentration of 50 mg L–1 on the carbon nanotube reached 500 mg g–1. In addition, surface modification of the adsorbents with acid resulted in a 15 % and 41 % increase in adsorption capacity, and an 85 % and 67 % reduction in equilibrium time for carbon nanotube and montmorillonite, respectively. The increasing pH proved to enhance the adsorption efficiency of carbon nanotubes and activated carbon, with the best performance achieved at solution pH of 10 and 8 for MWCNTs and AC, respectively.