Background/Objectives: The widespread presence of antimicrobial-resistant pharmaceutical contaminants in wastewater poses serious ecological and public health risks and remains difficult to address using conventional treatment technologies. Moreover, remediation strategies often involve overlooked environmental burdens, highlighting the need for technologies that are both efficient and environmentally sustainable. This study developed a novel GO/ZIF-60/CoNiAl -LTH (GO/ZIF-60/LTH) ternary nanocomposite adsorbent for removal of ciprofloxacin (CIP) from water matrixes while evaluating its environmental implications using Life cycle assessment (LCA). Methods: The adsorbent was synthesized by integrating graphene oxide (GO) and Ni–Al–Co layered triple hydroxide (LTH) into a ZIF-60 framework. Structural and surface characterization was conducted using XRD, FTIR, SEM–EDX, BET, and UV–Vis analyses. The adsorbent’s CIP aqueous uptake was evaluated through batch experiments supported by kinetic, isotherm, thermodynamic, and response surface methodology (RSM) analyses. Environmental performance was assessed through life cycle-based evaluation. Results: The composite achieved a maximum adsorption capacity of 291 mg g−1 and 91.6% removal efficiency with adsorption following pseudo-first-order kinetics and the Freundlich isotherm. The process was spontaneous and exothermic, with 75% efficiency retained after three regeneration cycles. The LCA revealed an overall global warming impact of 0.953 kg CO2 eq per functional unit, with the NiAlCo-LTH synthesis stage (1.04 kg CO2 eq) as the dominant hotspot, followed by final composite formation stage (0.66 kg CO2 eq). Adsorption and regeneration provided credits (−0.336 and −0.513 kg CO2 eq), offsetting the upstream impacts. Conclusions: The study demonstrates a new MOF–GO–LTH hybrid adsorbent with high CIP removal efficiency combined with its environmental sustainability assessment, providing a more comprehensive basis for adsorbent evaluation. Although the NiAlCo-LTH component was primarily responsible for the enhanced adsorption performance, yet, it also constituted the major environmental hotspot during its synthesis. These findings highlight the relevance of trade-off between functionality and environmental burden for process optimization, cleaner production, and the sustainable development of advanced adsorbents for pharmaceutical-contaminated water treatment.
Alhamed et al. (Tue,) studied this question.