Chemically activated sugarcane bagasse for biosorption of ibuprofen from aqueous solution

Bagaço de cana-de-açúcar ativado quimicamente para a biossorção de ibuprofeno de solução aquosa

ABSTRACT

In this study, the ability of chemically activated sugarcane bagasse (CASB) as a biosorbent for removing ibuprofen (IBP) from aqueous solution was evaluated. Sugarcane bagasse was activated using hexane and methanol. The effects of pH, contact time, IBP concentration, and temperature were evaluated in batch studies. Higher removal rates of IBP were found at pH 2.0. Kinetic studies indicated that the biosorption follows the pseudo-second-order model. The equilibrium biosorption isotherm was found to follow both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The maximum biosorption capacity of CASB was estimated at 7.75 mg g^-1 at 20 °C. According to the Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm model, the activation energy was calculated to be 7.07 kJ mol^-1, indicating that a physical process mediated the IBP removal. Thermodynamic analysis suggests that the biosorption is exothermic in nature and non-spontaneous. The FTIR analysis confirmed the interactions between IBP molecules and biosorbent. We concluded that CASB exhibited the potential to be used in the removal of IBP from aqueous media.

Keywords
Ibuprofen removal; Kinetic; Isotherms; Thermodynamic study; Pharmaceutical drugs