Loading...
Removal of Ciprofloxacin from Pharmaceutical Wastewater Using White Eggshells as Biosorbents
Bin Hammad, Maryam Khalid
Bin Hammad, Maryam Khalid
Date
2025-07
Author
Advisor
Type
Thesis
Degree
Citations
Altmetric:
Files
35.232-2025.32a Maryam Khalid Bin Hammad.pdf
Adobe PDF, 1.51 MB
- Embargoed until 2026-09-16
Description
A Master of Science thesis in Biomedical Engineering by Maryam Khalid Bin Hammad entitled, “Removal of Ciprofloxacin from Pharmaceutical Wastewater Using White Eggshells as Biosorbents”, submitted in July 2025. Thesis advisor is Dr. Sameer Al-Asheh. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
Pharmaceutical technology and industries are evolving and improving. However, the pharmaceutical wastewater that results from those industries has a complex composition, including high organic matter content, high salt content, microbial toxicity, and difficulty in biodegrading. Additionally, the impact of pharmaceutical wastewater on the environment is dramatically growing, resulting in the disposal of hazardous waste, an increase in microbial resistance, and adverse effects on marine life. Hence, this thesis aims to investigate a method for treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater effluents using a waste-to-treat-waste method using discarded white chicken eggshells as an abundant, low-cost biosorbent for ciprofloxacin removal. Batch adsorption tests were conducted with an initial ciprofloxacin concentration of 10 μg/mL, 3.0 g of eggshell biosorbent per 100 mL solution, 625 μm particle size, at pH 7 and 25 °C. Untreated eggshells achieved 83 % removal under optimized conditions, reaching equilibrium in 90 min at 300 rpm (85 % removal) versus 47 % removal after 120 min at 100 rpm. Chemical activation with 1 M HCl for 48 h enhanced removal to 91 %, while thermal conversion to CaO further increased it to 96 % under identical test parameters. These findings demonstrate that both raw and modified eggshells can remove up to 96 % of ciprofloxacin, offering a sustainable, cost-effective solution for pharmaceutical wastewater remediation. SEM, EDX, XRD, and FTIR analyses revealed strong interactions between ciprofloxacin and the eggshell surface, as indicated by morphological change and shifts in crystalline phases, underscoring the adsorbent’s chemical affinity for the antibiotic. Batch desorption with 0.1 M HCl effectively recovered ciprofloxacin from all eggshell adsorbents, with thermally activated CaO achieving the highest desorption efficiency (75 %).