Adsorptive Removal of Marbofloxacin from Milk using Activated Carbons.

The present study aims to remove the residual marbofloxacin (MBX) from milk with activated carbons (ACs) in batch and flow systems to meet the maximum residue limits (MRLs, 0.075 µg mL-1). Different types (granular and powder) and amounts of ACs were studied. In batch mode, 50 mg of commercial granular AC (CGAC) with 1083 m2 g-1 of BET specific surface area exhibited the superior adsorption performance for 20 mL of 1 µg mL-1 MBX-spiked milk. 93.7% of removal efficiency (RE) and 0.063 µg mL-1 of MBX residue were achieved. In flow mode, 325 mL of 1 µg mL-1 MBX-spiked milk was efficiently purified through 500 mg CGAC in a glass column (1 cm ID) and 93.4% of RE and 0.066 µg mL-1 of MBX residue were attained at the end. The flow process can handle 1.6 times higher in volume than that in batch mode. In conclusion, antibiotics can be efficiently, economically and conveniently removed using ACs adsorption from milk, despite the presence of competition adsorption of impurities. The adsorption with flow mode paves the way for the removal of antibiotics in milk.