Water remediation by micelle–clay system: Case study for tetracycline and sulfonamide antibiotics

Removal of tetracycline and sulfonamide antibiotics from water by micelles pre-adsorbed on montmorillonite was studied. Micelles of benzyldimethylhexadecylammonium (BDMHDA) were used. Batch experiments demonstrated that the micelle–clay complexes (1% w/w) removed 96–99.9% of antibiotics from their water solutions containing from 5 to 50 mg/L of pharmaceuticals. Column filters (25 cm) made of a mixture of quartz sand and BDMHDA micelle–clay complex at 100:1 w/w ratio removed 94–99.9% of above pharmaceuticals from initial solutions containing 10 mg/L and 89% of sulfamethizole from an initial solution containing 10 μg/L of this antibiotic. These filters were also very efficient in the removal of antibiotics in the presence of dissolved soil organic matter removing 89–99% of tetracycline and sulfamethizol from initial solutions containing 10 mg/L of antibiotic in the presence of 8 mg/L of humic acid, or 9 mg/L of fulvic acid. These data indicate that micelle–clay complexes are very efficient for water purification from tetracycline and sulfonamide antibiotics.