ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in wastewater pollution, due to disposal of metabolites of several drugs (e.g., chloroquine (CQN)). Conventional wastewater treatment is not sufficient to remove these contaminants, posing a threat to the aquatic ecosystem and human health. Thus, soybean hulls residues were functionalized with iron oxide nanoparticles (SBH-Fe3O4) and applied in adsorption processes to remove CQN, for the first time. The functionalization was confirmed through material characterization. The results indicated an equilibrium time of 120 minutes and a maximum adsorption capacity of 98.84 mg g-1 (318 K). The pseudo-first-order and Langmuir models were better fitted to the kinetic and isothermal parameters, respectively. The reuse of the biosorbent was effective for five cycles. Therefore, SBH-Fe3O4 has a high potential for applicability in the treatment of water contaminated by CQN.