Development of hybrid green nanocomposite polymeric beads doped with nano sulfated zirconia for effective removal of Cefotaxime antibiotic from aqueous solution

Abstract Adsorption efficiency of Cefotaxime by novel nanocomposites beads composed of iota carrageenan (IC), sulfonated poly vinyl alcohol (SPVA) and nano sulfated zirconia (SZrO2) was evaluated in this study. SZrO2 was synthesized from solvent-free and easy calcination technique then embedded with 1–2.5 wt.% into the polymeric matrix. A batch adsorption experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of dosage, pH, beginning concentration, and time on Cefotaxime antibiotic adsorption. The ideal conditions to achieve complete removal are 88.97 mg L−1 initial cefotaxime concentration at time 3.58 h with 11.68 mg of beads composite with 2.5 wt.% of SZrO2. The pseudo second order kinetics model better illustrated the adsorption of cefotaxime on nanocomposite beads, and the maximum adsorption capacity are 659 mg g−1 for the composite with 2.5 wt.% of SZrO2. The mechanism of adsorption process depend mainly on the interactions between the different functional groups of SPVA, IC and SZrO2. The nanocomposites beads also exhibit excellent reproducibility after ten adsorption cycles. This type of nanocomposites beads can be easily separated from water without leaving any residue, verifying this novel nanocomposite beads has strong potential in water treatment for the antibiotic contaminant removal.