Urea-Functionalized MIL-101(Cr)@AC as a New Adsorbent to Remove Sulfacetamide in Wastewater Treatment

Tackling antibiotic contaminations in wastewater with novel Modified-MOF nanostructures: A study of molecular simulations and DFT calculations

The contamination of wastewater with antibiotics has emerged as a critical global challenge, with profound implications for environmental integrity and human well-being. Adsorption techniques have been meticulously investigated and developed to mitigate and alleviate their effects. In this study, we have investigated the adsorption behaviour of Erythromycin (ERY), Gentamicin (GEN), Levofloxacin (LEVO), and Metronidazole (MET) antibiotics as pharmaceutical contaminants (PHCs) on amide-functionalized (RC (=O)NH2)/MIL-53 (Al) (AMD/ML53A), using molecular simulations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Based on our DFT calculations, it becomes apparent that the adsorption tendencies of antibiotics are predominantly governed by the presence of AMD functional groups on the adsorbent surface. Specifically, hydrogen bonding (HB) and van der Waals (vdW) interactions between antibiotics and AMD groups serve as the primary mechanisms facilitating adsorption. Furthermore, we have observed that the adsorption behaviors of these antibiotics are influenced by their respective functional groups, molecular shapes, and sizes. Our molecular simulations delved into how the AMD/ML53A surfaces interact with antibiotics as PHCs. Moreover, various chemical quantum descriptors based on Frontier Molecular Orbitals (FMO) were explored to elucidate the extent of AMD/ML53A adsorption and to assess potential alterations in their electronic properties throughout the adsorption process. Monte Carlo simulation showed that ERY molecules adsorb stronger to the adsorbent in acidic and basic conditions than other contaminants, with high energies: -404.47 kcal/mol in acidic and -6375.26 kcal/mol in basic environments. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations revealed parallel orientation for the ERY molecule's adsorption on AMD/ML53A with 80% rejection rate. In conclusion, our study highlighted the importance of modeling in developing practical solutions for removing antibiotics as PHCs from wastewater. The insights gained from our calculations can facilitate the design of more effective adsorption materials, ultimately leading to a more hygienic and sustainable ecosystem.

Effects of water environmental factors and antibiotics on bacterial community in urban landscape lakes

The presence of antibiotics can affect the natural microbial community and exert selective pressure on the environment's microorganisms. This study focused on three types of urban landscape lakes in Xi'an that were closely related to human activities. By combining basic water quality indicators, antibiotic occurrence status, bacterial communities and their potential metabolic functions, Spearman correlation coefficient and redundancy analysis were used to explore the relationship between them, and further explore the impact mechanism of environmental factors and antibiotics on bacterial community structure. The results showed that ofloxacin, erythromycin, and roxithromycin were the main types of antibiotics in the three landscape lakes, with low ecological risks, and there was a clear clustering of antibiotic occurrence. Proteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial phylum, and each lake had its own unique dominant bacteria, which indicates that they are influenced by varying water sources, pollution, and other nearby environments. Statistical analysis showed that pH and nitrogen nutrients were the most critical environmental factors affecting bacterial communities (P<0.01), while tetracyclines and lincomycins were the antibiotics that had a significant impact on bacterial communities (P<0.05). Antibiotics mainly promote defense- and signal transduction-related functions, and inhibit the metabolic activity of bacterial communities. However, the impact of antibiotics on bacterial diversity, community structure, and potential metabolic function in the three urban lakes was less than that of environmental factors. These results help to clarify the mechanism and degree of impact of different interference factors (environmental factors, conventional pollutants, and antibiotics) on bacterial communities in the water environment and are important for the management of urban landscape lake water environments.

Magnetic NH2-MIL-101(Al)/Chitosan nanocomposite as a novel adsorbent for the removal of azithromycin: modeling and process optimization

In the present study, the magnetic NH₂-MIL-101(Al)/chitosan nanocomposite (MIL/Cs@Fe₃O₄ NCs) was synthesized and used in the removal of azithromycin (AZT) from an aqueous solution for the first time. The as-synthesized MIL/Cs@Fe₃O₄ NCs was characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR, BET, and VSM techniques. The effect of various key factors in the AZT adsorption process was modeled and optimized using response surface methodology based on central composite design (RSM-CCD). The low value of p-value (1.3101e-06) and RSD (1.873) parameters, along with the coefficient of determination > 0.997 implied that the developed model was well fitted with experimental data. Under the optimized conditions, including pH: 7.992, adsorbent dose: 0.279 g/L, time: 64.256 min and AZT concentration: 10.107 mg/L, removal efficiency and AZT adsorption capacity were obtained as 98.362 ± 3.24% and 238.553 mg/g, respectively. The fitting of data with the Langmuir isotherm (R²: 0.998, X²: 0.011) and Pseudo-second-order kinetics (R²: 0.999, X²: 0.013) showed that the adsorption process is monolayer and chemical in nature. ΔH° > 0, ΔS° > 0, and ∆G° < 0 indicated that AZT removal was spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The effect of Magnesium on AZT adsorption was more complicated than other background ions. Reuse of the adsorbent in 10 consecutive experiments showed that removal efficiency was reduced by about 30.24%. The performance of MIL/Cs@Fe₃O₄ NCs under real conditions was also tested and promising results were achieved, except in the treatment of AZT from raw wastewater.

Advances in Metal-Organic Frameworks MIL-101(Cr)

MIL-101(Cr) is one of the most well-studied chromium-based metal-organic frameworks, which consists of metal chromium ion and terephthalic acid ligand. It has an ultra-high specific surface area, large pore size, good thermal/chemical/water stability, and contains unsaturated Lewis acid sites in its structure. Due to the physicochemical properties and structural characteristics, MIL-101(Cr) has a wide range of applications in aqueous phase adsorption, gas storage and separation, and catalysis. In this review, the latest synthesis of MIL-101(Cr) and its research progress in adsorption and catalysis are reviewed.

Occurrence and risk assessment of antibiotics in the surface water of Chaohu Lake and its tributaries in China

The extensive use of antibiotics for treating humans, animals, and plants has resulted in the contamination of aquatic environments, posing a potential threat to public health and aquatic life; hence, this topic is of great concern worldwide. Lakes are considered to be antibiotic-rich reservoirs because many of the antibiotics discharged from rivers enter lakes. Chaohu Lake is one of the top five freshwater lakes in China. This study aims to provide a current evaluation of the antibiotics present in the surface water of the Chaohu Lake basin. To this end, the occurrences of 18 antibiotics categorized into 5 different groups were investigated in the study area, and the impact of inflowing rivers on their distribution was assessed. The results showed that the concentrations of 14 antibiotics in water samples ranged from 0 to 892 ng/L, and that antibiotics were detected at most sampling sites. Among them, the Nanfeihe and Shiwulihe rivers, which are close to the city, contributed the most to antibiotic pollution, indicating the widespread occurrence of antibiotics in the study area. A risk assessment based on the risk quotient method indicated that ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, and norfloxacin in the lake water posed a high ecological risk to algae, while sulfamethazine posed a high risk to plants (RQ >1).

Preparation of molecularly imprinted resin/polydopamine nanofibers mat for the highly efficient extraction and determination of sulfonamides in environmental water

With polyacrylonitrile nanofibers mat (PAN NFsM) as a template, molecularly imprinted resin/polydopamine nanofibers mat (MIR/PDA NFsM) was synthesized for the extraction of sulfonamides (SAs) in water. The specific surface area and pore volume were increased obviously due to the functionalization of MIR. The adsorption efficiencies of MIR/PDA NFsM under optimized conditions for SAs were 92.3-99.3%. Possible adsorption mechanisms of imprinting recognition and hydrogen bond interactions were also put forward. Compared with MIR particles, the MIR/PDA NFsM exhibited much superior adsorption performance. Particularly, the outstanding mass transfer efficiency of MIR/PDA NFsM was much higher than the other reported adsorbents for SAs. Finally, a new method based on the solid-phase extraction (SPE) of MIR/PDA NFsM was successfully developed for the detection of five SAs in environmental water with HPLC-MS/MS and applied to the analysis of actual samples. Under the selected conditions, the enrichment factors of MIR/PDA NFsM of SCP, SMT, SMZ, SMR, and SMX were between 23.0 and 25.0. Low detection limits (0.26-0.76 ng L^-1), broad linear range (1.0 ng L^-1 to 10.0 μg L^-1), and satisfactory recoveries (82.8-115.6%) and precisions (RSDs < 7.2%) were obtained. Moreover, the excellent reusability properties and storage stability endowed MIR/PDA NFsM with great value for practical applications.

A review of metal organic framework (MOFs)-based materials for antibiotics removal via adsorption and photocatalysis

Antibiotic abuse has led to serious water pollution and severe harm to human health; therefore, there is an urgent need for antibiotic removal from water sources. Adsorption and photodegradation are two ideal water treatment methods because they are cheap, simple to operate, and reusable. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are excellent adsorbents and photocatalysts because of their high porosity, adaptability, and good crystal form. The aim of this study is to suggest ways to overcome the limitations of adsorption and photocatalysis treatment methods by reviewing previous applications of MOFs to antibiotic adsorption and photocatalysis. The different factors influencing these processes are also discussed, as well as the various adsorption and photocatalysis mechanisms. This study provides a valuable resource for researchers intending to use MOFs to remove antibiotics from water bodies.

Theoretical study on the adsorption and catalytic degradation mechanism of sulfacetamide on anatase TiO2(001) and (101) surfaces

In this paper, the adsorption of sulfacetamide on anatase titanium dioxide (001) and (101) was studied. The mechanism of six degradation pathways of sulfacetamide was discussed.