Effects of Cu and Ca cations and Fe/Al coating on ciprofloxacin sorption onto sand media.

Emerging contaminant ciprofloxacin (CIP) has been frequently detected in soils. Its interactions with metals in soils remain largely unknown. We examined the effects of metal cations Cu and Ca and surface Fe/Al coating on CIP sorption by preloading Cu and Ca onto sand surface or mixing them with CIP in solution. Batch experiments with sand before and after removing Fe/Al coating on surface (coated and clean sand) were used. Based on Langmuir model and compared to clean sand, coated sand not only sorbed 10 times more CIP (50 mg kg(-1)) but also with 6 times stronger binding strength (1.95 L/μg). Though coated sand had limited Fe and Al on surface (157 and 904 mg kg(-1)), they were the major sites for CIP sorption probably via complexation with CIP's carboxyl group. Surface Fe/Al also played an important role in CIP sorption via Cu and Ca cation bridging as evidenced by increased CIP sorption with increasing Cu and Ca concentration preloaded onto sand surface. Different from Cu and Ca on the sand surface, Cu and Ca in solution decreased CIP sorption. Our results suggested that cations in soils could either facilitate or impede CIP sorption depending on they are on solid or solution phase.