Reusable waste-derived magnetic mesoporous activated carbon for efficient preconcentration and adsorptive removal of fluoroquinolones

In this study, a magnetic mesoporous activated carbon derived from PET waste plastic bottles and acid mine drainage (AMD-mag@PET-MMAC) was employed for the enrichment and adsorptive removal of selected fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotics. The quantification of FQ antibiotics in aqueous and real samples was achieved using liquid chromatographic systems. At optimum conditions, the maximum adsorption capacities ranging from 233- 385 mg/g were obtained, confirming the suitability of the adsorbent for the removal of FQs in real water samples. The Langmuir and Pseudo-second order models best described the equilibrium isotherm and kinetic data. The adsorption mechanism involves hydrogen bonding, pore filling, π-π interactions and electrostatic interactions. The analytical performance of the method revealed a linear range of 0.2–100 ng/L with R² values greater than 0.99, %RSD values <5 % and LOD and LOQ ranges of 0.06–0.21 and 0.2–0.69 ng/L and 0.6 ng/L, respectively. The method was validated using real wastewater samples spiked with known concentrations of the analytes.