Low-cost material for the adsorption of antibiotics: POSTER
Onyekachukwu. E., Nesbitt, H., Tretsiakova-McNally, S. and Coleman, H., Ulster University, UK
(Free)
The presence of micro-pollutants in water bodies has raised concerns due to their elevated concentrations, persistence, and adverse effects on human and environmental health. These contaminants, termed as emerging contaminants, pose a significant threat to water quality. Antimicrobial resistance, a global health crisis, has been exacerbated by the persistent release of antibiotics in our environment. The continued exposure to these drugs has allowed bacteria to develop resilience, resulting in increased difficulty to treat infections effectively. This growing burden on public health systems worldwide demands urgent action to address this critical issue. Several processes, such as conventional wastewater treatment, advanced oxidation, ion exchange, and electrocoagulation, are employed to address water contamination.
However, these methods face significant challenges in terms of efficiency, costs, energy requirements, and the potential generation oftoxicby-products1. Adsorption is an established technique for the removal of contaminants, owing to its desirable features such as lower toxicity, environmental friendliness, simple design, low energy demand, and safeoperation2.Ligno-cellulosic materials, such as sawdust are a possible alternative as adsorbents due to their inherent high porosity, large surface area, ease of modification, good liquid retention capacity, and biodegradability. These characteristics make ligno-cellulose-based adsorbents a promising and sustainable solution for the treatment of contaminated water and wastewater.