Agro-Waste-Derived Biochar as a Low-Cost Adsorbent for Pharmaceutical Contaminant Removal

The pollution caused by pharmaceutical contaminants has become a pressing environmental concern, as their persistent accumulation in ecosystems poses serious risks to water quality, food safety, and human health. The adsorption of pollutants onto activated carbon is a simple yet highly efficient method for water pre-treatment, widely applied at an industrial scale in both desalination and water treatment processes. The characterization of carbon adsorbents represents a broad area of research. While chemically synthesized adsorbents have predictable structural and chemical properties that are determined by their synthesis, activated carbons often exhibit considerable variability due to differences in raw materials and activation methods. Converting low-cost organic waste into high-value materials without generating secondary pollutants remains a key challenge for sustainable and eco-friendly industrial development. In this study, an inexpensive and readily available carbon precursor was selected and converted into a high-performance adsorbent. Activated carbon was synthesized at the laboratory scale from organic waste to produce a cost-effective sorbent. The precursor material was characterized before and after treatment using XRD, SEM/EDS, and FTIR analyses. Adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants, with a focus on paracetamol, using both the synthesized activated carbon and the raw precursor material. This study examines adsorption kinetics, equilibrium isotherms, and the effects of critical parameters, including contact time, initial pollutant concentration, adsorbent dosage, and solution pH.