| Abstract [eng] |
Due to the rapid increase in the use of various pharmaceutical substances in recent decades, increasing amounts of these substances are found in a variety of environmental media. In the environment, the highest amounts of these substances are found in surface waters. Typically, the main entry point for pharmaceuticals into the environment is urban wastewater treatment plants. As the activated sludge systems most commonly used in these wastewater treatment plants are not specifically designed to treat persistent organic pollutants, most of these substances enter surface waters together with the treated wastewater stream. This release of pharmaceuticals into the environment is harmful to various environmental organisms, so research and integration of new technologies are necessary. Activated carbon systems are one of the most efficient, easiest to apply and cheapest technologies. The use of activated carbon adsorbs various persistent organic pollutants from water. However, the raw material for commercial activated carbon and its extraction raises the cost of the process. In this work, adsorbents made from waste were selected as an alternative to commercial activated carbon. As the increasing amount of various wastes and their non-recovery pose serious environmental problems, their use in the production of adsorbents would increase the economy and sustainability of waste recycling and water treatment. The hypothesis of this thesis is that adsorbents made from dried sewage sludge and furniture panels can be an alternative to commercial sorbents in removing organic pollutants from the sewage stream. Two different adsorbents were prepared by thermal pyrolysis and chemical activation with potassium hydroxide: an adsorbent of dried sewage sludge and an adsorbent of furniture panel waste. In order to evaluate the removal efficiency of these adsorbents in the removal of organic pollutants, adsorption studies using 1 g / L and 10 g / L adsorbents were performed. One of the most commonly detected chemicals in the environment was selected: methylene blue dye and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. Concentrations of 1 mg / L and 10 mg / L were used in the studies. Preliminary studies with activated and inactivated adsorbent of dried sewage sludge were performed to confirm the need for activation. After the activated carbon adsorbent was confirmed to have a higher removal efficiency, three activated adsorbents were subsequently investigated. Kinetic calculations with pseudo first and pseudo second order models were performed to evaluate the adsorption mechanism. It was found that the pseudo second grade model adequately describes the mechanism of adsorption. Adsorbents are a potential alternative to commercial activated carbon for the removal of persistent organic pollutants from water waste. However, we cannot draw a definitive conclusion from the research carried out in this work alone. This still requires more research with different waste adsorbents using different production conditions and a wider range of medicinal substances. |
