Encapsulation of iron nanoparticles with magnesium hydroxide shell for remarkable removal of ciprofloxacin from contaminated water

The rapid evolution of antimicrobial resistant genes (AMRs) in water resources is well correlated to the persistent occurrence of ciprofloxacin in water. For the first time, encapsulated nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI) with a shell of magnesium hydroxide (Mg/Fe⁰) was used to adsorb ciprofloxacin from water. Optimization of the removal conditions exhibited that 5% was the optimum mass ratio between magnesium hydroxide and nZVI [Mg(OH)₂/nZVI)] as more than 96% of 100 mg L⁻¹ of ciprofloxacin was removed. In addition, 0.5 g L⁻¹ of Mg/Fe⁰ showed an extraordinary performance in removing ciprofloxacin over a wide range of pH (3–11) with removal efficiencies exceeded 90%. Kinetic analysis displayed that the kinetic data was well described by both Pseudo first-order and second-order models. Also, the equilibrium data was well fitted by Freundlich isotherm model. In addition, thermodynamic analysis evidenced that the removal of ciprofloxacin by Mg/Fe⁰ was exothermic, and spontaneous. The experiments also revealed that physisorption and chemisorption were the responsible mechanisms for ciprofloxacin removal. The proposed treatment system remediated 10 litters of 100 mg L⁻¹ of ciprofloxacin solution with 100% overall removal efficiency. This treatment system could be a promising and practical solution to decrease ciprofloxacin concentration in different water bodies.