Removal of emerging pharmaceutical contaminants by adsorption in a fixed-bed column: A review

Pharmaceutical pollutants substantially affect the environment; thus, their treatments have been the focus of many studies. In this article, the fixed-bed adsorption of pharmaceuticals on various adsorbents was reviewed. The experimental breakthrough curves of these pollutants under various flow rates, inlet concentrations, and bed heights were examined. Fixed-bed data in terms of saturation uptakes, breakthrough time, and the length of the mass transfer zone were included. The three most popular breakthrough models, namely, Adams-Bohart, Thomas, and Yoon-Nelson, were also reviewed for the correlation of breakthrough curve data along with the evaluation of model parameters. Compared with the Adams-Bohart model, the Thomas and Yoon-Nelson more effectively predicted the breakthrough data for the studied pollutants.