Tetracycline Remove from Synthetic Wastewater by Using Several Methods

Tetracycline (TC), a commonly utilized drug for human and animal therapy, is one of the most widespread antibiotic residues existing in the environment. The lack of sophisticated techniques for the removal of residual tetracycline from wastewater indicates an actual environmental risk. In this study, three methods for tetracycline removal from synthetic wastewater were utilized. Pillared clay was used as adsorbent (alone) and with coagulant (alum) in a hybrid technique. Coagulation and flocculation technique was the first method. The best operation conditions were alum dose of 2.5 mg/L, pH 7 and tetracycline concentration of 10 mg/L. The second method was the adsorption on Al-Fe pillared clay, the optimum operating conditions were found to be pH 4.5, time 120 minutes, tetracycline dose 90 mg/L, and the amount of Al-Fe pillared clay adsorbent 400 mg/L. In the third method (hybrid method), the optimum conditions for the above methods were used. The highest removal efficiency of tetracycline by using coagulation and flocculation only as a coagulant reached 60%. In turn, by using Al-Fe pillared clay it was 90% and in the case of the hybrid method, it was 94%. Thus, the hybrid technique improves the removal of tetracycline from synthesized wastewater.