Removal of p-cresol and tylosin from water using a novel composite of alginate, recycled MnO2 and activated carbon

For sustainable production, there is an urgent need to minimize the adverse environmental impacts of swine farming, which is a major contributor of the pollutants p-cresol and tylosin. Novel reactive composite alginate beads (CAB-MOACs) were fabricated by combining alginate with activated carbon (AC) and MnO<inf>2</inf> recovered from spent battery waste and used for efficient removal of p-cresol and tylosin from water. Batch experiments were carried out under varying pH (3–11), temperature (15–50 °C), and agitation speed (50–200 rpm) to understand their effects on removal efficiency. The CAB-MOACs had better removal efficiency for p-cresol and tylosin than alginate beads alone or beads containing only AC or MnO<inf>2</inf>. Adsorption to CAB-MOACs followed pseudo-second-order kinetics (R²≥0.98) and Langmuir isotherm models (R²≥0.95). CAB-MOACs showed higher removal efficiency (∼99.9% after 10 h) compared to beads containing only immobilized MnO<inf>2</inf> (60–70%) or AC (94–96%). Regeneration and reuse performance of the CAB-MOACs was excellent through five cycles, although slightly better for p-cresol than tylosin. With low-cost manufacturing and beneficial utilization of hazardous waste such as spent batteries, the newly developed composite beads show potential as an effective adsorbent for treating wastewater effluent containing emerging contaminants like p-cresol and tylosin. Future studies may focus on product refinement and large-scale testing on actual wastewaters.