Utilization of Chlorella vulgaris after the Extraction Process in Wastewater Treatment as a Biosorption Material for Ciprofloxacin Removal

Potentially negative environmental and human health effects have led to pharmaceutical chemicals,which are labeled as a new class of environmental contaminants. Adsorption is one of the most appealing choices to remove that pharmaceutical waste in recent years. However, the environmental limitations of the adsorbent material are an obstacle to the development of this process. The current study suggested the remaining Chlorella vulgaris biomass, after the extraction process of the biomaterials, to be a bio-absorption material in removing the Ciprofloxacin from the hospital wastewater. The preparation and characterization of the suggested adsorbent through FTIR analysis, and scanning electron microscopy, coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, were present in the current study. Several functional groups (such as carboxylic, amines, hydroxyls, and amides) were observed to aid the adsorption process. After the extraction process, the results showed a growth in the peaks, indicating an increase in functional groups, particularly the-O.H. and-N.H. groups, while having changed toward lower energy after binding with CIP atoms, as well as an increase in surface area from 2.3723 to 3.6224 m2/g. The XRD was shown to be compatible with the EDX test, which both demonstrated a decrease in carbon element concentration due to the deconstruction process. The effects of Ciprofloxacin bio-sorption variables, including contact time, initial Ciprofloxacin concentration, pH, and adsorbent dosage, were adopted as a parametric study. The maximum adsorption capacity was recorded at pH 7 with an adsorbent dose of 2.75 g/L; after 120 minutes, the data show that 89.9% of Ciprofloxacin has been adsorption onto the extracted biomass.