Adsorption of pharmaceuticals from aqueous solutions onto clay minerals

The objective of this work was to investigate to possibility of clay minerals for the removal of drugs from aqueous solutions. Natural minerals such as montmorillonite, vermiculite, kaolinite and modified montmorillonites KSF and K10 (intercalated by Fe3+) were used as potential sorbents for three analgetics: paracetamol, ibuprofen and diclofenac from aqueous solutions. This research demonstrated that adsorption of all three pharmaceuticals onto natural untreated clay minerals, except paracetamol sorption on Na-MMT, is negligible. On the other hand, the chemically modified montmorillonites demonstrated significant sorption ability in the order diclofenac>ibuprofen>paracetamol