Simulation Of Multilayered Packed Bed Adsorption Column For Tetracycline Removal From Aqueous Environment

Abstract

The widespread use of tetracyclines in humans and animals, which ultimately enter the aquatic environment, has become a major environmental and public health problem because of their persistence, toxicity, and role in antimicrobial resistance. Because of the difficulty to completely remove these emerging contaminants, conventional treatment technologies are not adequate, and advanced and efficient treatment technologies are required. In this work, the simulation and optimization of a multilayered packed bed adsorption column have been explained for adsorption of tetracycline from the aqueous environment in Aspen ADSIM V10 software. The proposed multilayer configuration is a novel approach that combines different adsorbent materials in a series to make use of the complementarity of the adsorption properties, in order to increase the removal of contaminants and to improve the use of the beds. Considering the different operational parameters such as influent concentration, flow rate, bed height, and the arrangement of the adsorbent layer, a dynamic adsorption model is developed to explore the mass transfer behavior, adsorption kinetic characteristics, and breakthrough characteristics. Thorough breakthrough curve studies are carried out to assess column performance and to determine important design parameters that will affect the efficiency of the adsorption process. In addition, process optimization is carried out to find the optimum multilayer configuration for the best removal of tetracycline while minimizing the use of adsorbent and the operating costs. The simulation framework allows for predictive evaluation of the system performance without going through extensive experimental trials, which is a cost-effective method to perform the design and scale up of adsorption processes. This proposed multilayered adsorption system is expected to show better performance than the traditional packed bed system, and will be a new and sustainable solution to the treatment of water contaminated with antibiotics. The results of this work will help develop new technologies for cleanup of emerging pollutants via scalable adsorption processes and contribute to the development of simulation based environmental process engineering.