Fabrication of easy separable and reusable MIL-125(Ti)/MIL-53(Fe) binary MOF/CNT/Alginate composite microbeads for tetracycline removal from water bodies

In this investigation, we aimed to fabricate easy separable composite microbeads for efficient adsorption of tetracycline (TC) drug. MIL-125(Ti)/MIL-53(Fe) binary metal organic framework (MOF) was synthetized and incorporated with carbon nanotube (CNT) into alginate (Alg) microbeads to form MIL-125(Ti)/MIL-53(Fe)/CNT@Alg composite microbeads. Various tools including FTIR, XRD, SEM, BET, Zeta potential and XPS were applied to characterize the composite microbeads. It was found that the specific surface area of MIL-125(Ti)/MIL-53(Fe)/CNT@Alg microbeads was 273.77 m2/g. The results revealed that the adsorption of TC augmented with rising CNT proportion up to 15 wt% in the microbeads matrix. In addition, the adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order and well-fitted to Freundlich and Langmuir models with a maximum adsorption capacity of 294.12 mg/g at 25 ◦C and pH 6. Furthermore, thermodynamic study clarified that the TC adsorption process was endothermic, random and spontaneous. Besides, reusability test signified that MIL-125(Ti)/MIL-53(Fe)/CNT@Alg composite microbeads retained superb adsorption properties for six consecutive cycles, emphasizing its potentiality for removing of pharmaceutical residues.

Attitudes and Considerations towards Pharmaceuticals-Related Environmental Issues among Finnish Population

A number of policy recommendations identify the general public as a key participant in environmentally sustainable pharmaceutical policies. However, research into pharmaceuticals-related environmental issues from the population perspective is scarce. We studied the awareness among Finnish adults (n = 2030) of pharmaceutical residues in Finnish waterways, their perceived environmental sources, views on pharmaceuticals-related environmental issues, and their association with background characteristics. Of the respondents, 89.5% were aware of the presence of pharmaceuticals in Finnish waterways. Wastewaters from the pharmaceutical industry were most frequently, and pharmaceuticals excreted by humans least frequently, considered a major environmental source of pharmaceuticals. The vast majority of the respondents were worried about the environmental and health impact of pharmaceutical residues and emphasized issues such as the importance of environmentally sustainable actions by pharmaceutical companies and the recyclability of the pharmaceutical packaging materials. Age, education, use of prescription medicines, and environmental attitude were associated with awareness of pharmaceutical residues, while gender, age, education level, and environmental attitude were associated most frequently with pharmaceuticals-related environmental considerations. These results indicate a need for improved communication about the environmental effects of pharmaceuticals and the significance of different pharmaceutical emission sources in order to promote a more environmentally friendly, effective pharmaceutical policy.

A Study On The Influence Of Sodium Salt Solution On The Atterberg Limits And Swelling Of Bentonite Clay

Due to industrialization and subsequent rise in urbanisation, our groundwater system and geoenvironmental reserves are getting degraded due to detrimental effects of industrial wastes discarded off into the geo-environment. Basic components like water, air and soil all get degraded resulting unacceptable loss of their natural virtues like purity, renewability, stability, sustainability and tolerability. Major industrial effluents like salt solutions, chemicals, artificial dyes, heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues and sewages etc., are posing the major problems for the ecosystem and their subparts. Since, bentonite clay has peculiar characteristics of high swelling and high pollutant absorbing capacity along with low hydraulic conductivity, it is used as a geotechnical clay liner. However, the geotechnical parameters of bentonite get affected on interaction with cations present in salt solutions. This investigation was carried out in order to observe the influences of salt solutions on bentonite and the results obtained depicts that the varying salt concentrations have a definite influence on Atterberg limits, swelling of bentonite.

“Old” and “new” contaminants and their management: learning from the past, looking to the future

Within the 50 year lifetime of the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH), we have seen a number of contaminants transfer from being the wonder chemical of their day through to becoming current contaminants of concern. This is also true for a variety of emerging contaminants such as plastic microbeads, pharmaceutical residues, and fire retardant chemicals, amongst others. This thought piece discusses the risk associated with a range of these emerging contaminants, their global nature, how existing models and frameworks can be applied to deal with their impacts, and research and management gaps and challenges. Graphic Abstract