Abstract
A diverse range of adsorbent materials have been investigated for the removal of different pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) from the aqueous media. The performance of a specific adsorbent-contaminant system is dependent on several influencing factors, which makes the systematic comparison of adsorbents a rather challenging task. To overcome these limitations, an innovative index-based ranking approach for selecting the most suitable adsorbent for a particular contaminant is proposed in this study. The adsorbent materials investigated for the adsorptive removal of diclofenac are collected through and extensive literature survey and used as case study. Adsorption Capacity, pH, equilibrium time, material cost, pHzpc, and surface area have been chosen based on relevance in the removal mechanism and the corresponding data availability as the variables for the analysis. The variables are scaled w.r.t. a standard adsorbent (Granular Activated Carbon, GAC). Weights are calculated using equal weights (used as a control), objective (Entropy) and subjective (AHP) weighting methods following a simple multiplicative addition and subsequently ranks have been assigned. It was found that activated carbon from biomass (modified with iron), and MgAl layered double hydroxide have performed well in all the weighting methods. Carbon nanotubes, Activated carbon fiber, mercapto-silicate composites, magnetic COFs, polypyrrole doped nanocomposites and nanoporous PMF particles have consistently been ranked among the least in all the methods.