Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Department of Chemistry, Jalan Sultan Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
  • 5 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America
  • 6 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
PLoS One, 2015;10(7):e0130253.
PMID: 26161510 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130253

Abstract

Mesoporous silica materials (MSMs) were synthesized economically using silica (SiO2) as a precursor via a modified alkaline fusion method. The MSM prepared at 500°C (MSM-500) had the highest surface area, pore size, and volume, and the results of isotherms and the kinetics of ibuprofen (IBP) removal indicated that MSM-500 had the highest sorption capacity and fastest removal speed vs. SBA-15 and zeolite. Compared with commercial granular activated carbon (GAC), MSM-500 had a ~100 times higher sorption rate at neutral pH. IBP uptake by MSM-500 was thermodynamically favorable at room temperature, which was interpreted as indicating relatively weak bonding because the entropy (∆adsS, -0.07 J mol(-1) K(-1)) was much smaller. Five times recycling tests revealed that MSM-500 had 83-87% recovery efficiencies and slower uptake speeds due to slight deformation of the outer pore structure. In the IBP delivery test, MSM-500 drug loading was 41%, higher than the reported value of SBA-15 (31%). The in vitro release of IBP was faster, almost 100%, reaching equilibrium within a few hours, indicating its effective loading and unloading characteristics. A cost analysis study revealed that the MSM was ~10-70 times cheaper than any other mesoporous silica material for the removal or delivery of IBP.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.