ORIGINAL RESEARCH
What is the Effect of Changing pH
on Pharmaceuticals’ Sorption?
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Department of Environmental Engineering, Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering,
Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Submission date: 2020-11-10
Final revision date: 2021-08-23
Acceptance date: 2021-09-25
Online publication date: 2022-01-25
Publication date: 2022-03-22
Corresponding author
Petra Szabová
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2022;31(2):1805-1812
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ABSTRACT
The present article aims to determine how the change in pH affects the adsorption efficiency of
pharmaceuticals on adsorbents. Natural zeolites of various fractions and activated carbon (granular,
powdered) were used as suitable and available adsorbents. A total of 102 drugs were detected at the
outflow from the Devínska Nová Ves wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), and their total concentration
was 12.2 μg/l. The results of the first test (pH = 7.0) show that the highest removal of the total drug
concentration was observed in powdered activated carbon (PAC > 99%). On the other hand, zeolites
achieved the highest removal efficiency of only 52%. Subsequently, the pH of the treated water was
adjusted to 2.0, and an increase in the amount of drug removed in each of the sorbents used was
observed. In granular activated carbon (GAC), a 35% increase in total drug removal was observed.
An increase in elimination was also observed for all zeolite fractions. Subsequently, the sample was
adjusted to pH = 12.0, where we can observe the opposite effect. Except for PAC, all substances were
removed with minimal efficiency. The elimination decreased by almost 50% for all types of zeolite
fraction and GAC.