International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The quality of surface waters in Albania is an issue particularly as the country aims to join the EU. Organic compounds in water matrix are difficult to remove, and recent Ishmi river monitoring shows that the anti-inflammatory such as naproxen is predominant among other pharmaceuticals. The commonly used antiepileptic such as carbamazepine is also detected. Thus, their removal from effluents is of high environmental relevance. Therefore, ternary magneto-biochar-clay (MBC 1:2:1) adsorbent was prepared from low-cost feldspar (FLC), grape cluster stalk waste (GC) biochar, and iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNP), and was used as an adsorbent. Adsorption
experiments tested the effect of solution pH (2.5-10) of naproxen and carbamazepine with simulated contaminated and Ishmi river water, after pH optimization. The results showed that the maximum adsorption was achieved at a pH value of 2.5 for naproxen and carbamazepine in a single compound solution. Interestingly, for naproxen in both cases (single and combined), the maximum adsorption was achieved at pH value of 2.5, while for carbamazepine the maximum adsorption was achieved at pH value of 2.5 for single and no significant adsorption was achieved in combined compound solution. The adsorption of naproxen and carbamazepine at optimized pH of 4.5 in Ishmi water remained stable, with the only difference for carbamazepine in single compound, where the adsorption was lower compared to simulated contaminated water. This study demonstrated that in addition to easy handling, the MBC 1:2:1 adsorbent was efficient for naproxen and carbamazepine removal.