Remoción de contaminantes emergentes en una columna de lecho fijo rellena con carbón activado granular

Abstract

Water pollution on planet earth is increasing and at the same time pollutants have been found that seriously affect the health of living beings. These pollutants that seriously affect health are called “Emerging Pollutants” which are pharmaceuticals, personal care products, steroids and pesticides. Of these emerging pollutants, the most negative effects on the environment are pharmaceutical products, especially antibiotics, because large amounts of these antibiotics have been reported in wastewater, especially Levofloxacin, which is an antibiotic used worldwide for treat bacterial infections On the entire planet, 80% of these wastewater that is generated is not treated. In Ecuador, studies have been reported that antibiotics have been found in the country's rivers, it is worrying because in the country only 8% of these wastewater is treated. For the elimination or removal of these drugs, several techniques have been evaluated to determine which is effective, and it has been considered that the most optimal process to remove is by adsorption. The objective of this research study is the adsorption of Levofloxacin in an aqueous solution by applying two adsorption processes to determine its ability to remove this contaminant, by batch and fixed bed column filled with granular activated carbon