Effective removal of pharmaceutical contaminants ibuprofen and sulfamethoxazole from water by Corn starch nanoparticles: An ecotoxicological assessment

Pharmaceutical pollutants, a vital type of emerging contaminants, have attracted researchers to study their removal from water. In this research, Corn starch nanoparticles (CSNP) have been synthesized and characterized using various analytical techniques. The synthesized CSNP was used for the biosorption of two pharmaceutical drugs, ibuprofen (IBU) and sulfamethoxazole (SUL). The influence of various experimental conditions was optimized through batch study with the removal efficiency of 86.33 % (IBU) and 85.80 % (SUL) at pH 2 and 3, initial concentration of 10 mg/L, 0.01 g of CSNP dosage. The biosorption of IBU follows Temkin, and SUL follows Langmuir isotherm models. The toxicological assessment was performed using the seeds of Vigna mungo (VM) and Vigna radiata (VR) and zebrafish to evaluate the toxic effects of pollutants on these organisms. The LC50 of IBU and SUL on zebrafish before the biosorption process was 209.50 mg/L and 338.84 mg/L. After biosorption, the LC50 values increase to 1435.82 mg/L for IBU and 1317.04 mg/L for SUL. Thus, CSNP is an efficient bio-sorbent for removing the pharmaceutical pollutants to protect ecological systems.