Efficient progesterone removal from water using molybdenum disulfide nanoparticles.

Water contamination by hormone-disrupting chemicals like progesterone (PGS) poses significant risks to environmental and human health. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic study of PGS removal by pure MoS2 nanoparticles, extending previous work on MoS2 for structurally related estrogen, 17β-estradiol [1]. Owing to their two-dimensional structure, high surface area, and good stability in water, MoS2 nanoparticles can achieve higher affinity toward organic molecules like PGS compared to conventional adsorbents such as activated carbon or metal oxides. Under optimized conditions ([MoS2] = 20 mg L-1, temperature = 25 °C, pH = 7, initial PGS concentration = 20 mg L-1), a maximum removal efficiency of 98% was achieved within 1 h. Variations in environmental factors, including temperature, pH, dosage, and initial PGS concentration, influenced the removal efficiency; however, MoS2 maintained high performance across a broad range of conditions. Mechanistic analysis revealed that van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions were the dominant adsorption mechanisms, as confirmed by adsorption modeling. MoS2 also demonstrated excellent reusability, with minimal performance loss after multiple cycles. A preliminary cost analysis based on raw material prices suggest that MoS2 is economically competitive with conventional adsorbents under the tested conditions. These results indicate that MoS2 is a promising candidate for the treatment of hormone-contaminated water, although further techno-economic evaluation (TEA) at larger scales is required.