Pharmaceutical compounds are among the most important emerging contaminants in aquatic environments. One of the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals is diclofenac, a widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that is difficult to remove using conventional wastewater treatment technologies.
The authors from the Research Group of Microreactors presented a novel hybrid water treatment strategy that combines adsorption of diclofenac on natural clinoptilolite with subsequent photodegradation of the concentrated pollutant. The key element of the study is a dual-functionalized clinoptilolite prepared by alkaline activation followed by functionalization with tetrabutylammonium bromide. This modification increased the adsorption capacity by approximately 2.5-fold compared with the unmodified material.
After adsorption, diclofenac was efficiently desorbed into a small solution volume, achieving up to a twenty-fold preconcentration of the pollutant. The concentrated solution was subsequently treated using a UV/H₂O₂ advanced oxidation process, resulting in more than 90% diclofenac removal within 30 minutes and over 60% mineralization of organic matter.
The study demonstrates that integrating adsorption with advanced oxidation processes provides an efficient and economically attractive strategy for the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants from water. The proposed approach not only improves sorbent utilization but also significantly enhances the efficiency of the degradation step by concentrating pollutants prior to treatment.
- Schimon D., Jaklová N., Setničková K., Stavárek P., Kamenická B., Klusoň P.: Efficient Hybrid Treatment of Diclofenac: Adsorption on Dual Functionalized Clinoptilolite Followed by Photodegradation. ACS ES&T Water 2026, 6(7), 4225–4237. doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.6c00052