Safe detoxification on acid-washed activated carbon combined with chitosan for aflatoxins from contaminated peanut oil

Aflatoxins are one of the most toxic mycotoxins and can cause serious harm to humans and animals. Adsorption is a practical decontamination technique favored by the industry because of its advantages of low cost, speed and simplicity, and environmental friendliness. In this work, the adsorption features of activated carbon and chitosan were fabricated in a composite through chemical co-precipitation to improve its properties for adsorption. Furthermore, the capacity of the synthesized chitosan and acid-washed activated carbon composite (CS-AAC) to attenuate the aflatoxins in contaminated peanut oil and the adsorption capacity at different initial aflatoxins content, contact duration, and temperature were evaluated. The results showed a higher adsorption capacity (removal efficiency to 93.45% of AFB₁, 94.05% of AFB₂, 89.16% of AFG₁, 83.26% of AFG₂). The Freundlich isothermal and D–R model and the pseudo-second-order rate expression both implied a good correlation with the test data and explained the adsorption mechanism well. The adsorption mechanism was found to be accomplished primarily via ion exchange and chelation. According to thermodynamic results (△G < 0, △H > 0, △S > 0), the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. Compared to acid-washed activated carbon, CS-AAC enhanced the retention of V_E and sterols (especially V_E by 23%), and the safety of CS-AAC adsorbent was explored by cellular experiments. In conclusion, CS-AAC is a promising adsorbent material for the removal of aflatoxins from edible oils.