Effect of green synthesis of Fe3O4 nanomaterial on the removal of cefixime from aqueous solution

In this paper, two types of iron oxide nanomaterial (Fe3O4) and nanocomposite (T-Fe3O4) were created from the bio-waste mass of tangerine peel. These two materials were utilized for adsorption tests to remove cefixime (CFX) from an aqueous solution. Before the adsorption application, both adsorbents have been characterized by various characterizations such as XRD, FTIR, VSM, TEM, and FESEM. The mesoporous nano-crystalline structure of Fe3O4 and T-Fe3O4 nanocomposite with less than 100-nm diameter is confirmed. The adsorption of the obtained adsorbents was evaluated for CFX removal by adjusting several operation parameters to optimize the removal. The optimal conditions for CFX removal were found to be an initial concentration of 40 and 50 mg/L, a dosage of 0.25 mg/50 mL, a contact time of 120 min, and a pH of 5. These settings resulted in q(e) max values of 41.322 and 56.49 mg g(-1) onto Fe3O4 and T-Fe3O4, respectively.