Performance evaluation of reverse osmosis technology for selected antibiotics removal from synthetic pharmaceutical wastewater

Abstract

This study addresses the possibility for low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (RE 2521, CSM) process to serve as an alternative to remove selected antibiotics (ampicillin and amoxicillin) from synthetic wastewater by changing operating conditions such as pH = 3, 6.5 and 10; Pressure = 9, 11 and13 (bar); antibiotic concentration = 10, 255 and 500(mg/L), and temperature = 20, 30 and 40°C. The experiment was designed based on Box-benken, which is a Response Surface methodology design (RSM), using Design Expert software. The concentration of antibiotics was measured by applying a UV-spectrophotometer (Cecil), at the wavelength of 254 nm. Results showed a range of rejection percentage from 73.52% to 99.36% and 75.1% to 98.8%, for amoxicillin and ampicillin, respectively. Considering the solute rejections and the membrane porosity show that the prevailing rejection mechanism of the examined antibiotics by the membrane was the size exclusion effect. The permeate flux for both of the antibiotics was 12–18.73 L/m2.h. Although the permeate flux and antibiotic rejection are influenced by operating pressure, pH, and temperature individually, the interaction between operating parameters did not have noticeable effects. According to the results obtained in this study, the application of RO membrane is recommended for the selected antibiotics to be removed to a considerable degree (up to 95%).

Application of pyrolysed agricultural biowastes as adsorbents for fish anaesthetic (MS-222) removal from water

“…In order to remove emerging contaminants from water, advanced processes such as UV/H 2 O 2 oxidation [8], photo-Fenton [9], nano and ultra-filtration [10], reverse osmosis [11] and adsorption onto activated carbon [12] have been successfully used. Nevertheless, the application of these processes may be quite expensive and, furthermore, some of them may give place to undesired by-products [13].…”

Performance of nano-filtration and reverse osmosis processes for wastewater treatment

“…The study results agree with those of Gholami et al, and Sahar et al who reported the significant rejection of pollutants from waste effluents. 21,22 Figure 8 shows the results of NF for wastewater treatment containing cations and anions using the old NF and new NF membranes. The old membrane worked for 3 years.…”

“…Also, the application of the RO membrane was recommended for the removal of selected antibiotics up to 95 % from synthetic waste effluent. 21 In addition pressure-driven membrane processes, particularly nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) have also been gaining attention in the past decade and their application in drinking-water treatment has been the focus of many researchers. 22 …”

Amoxicillin adsorption on microwave prepared activated carbon from Arundo donax Linn: Isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics studies

“…The 20 resistant bacteria may cause disease that cannot be treated by 21 conventional antibiotics; therefore, AMX wastes need to be treated 22 before disposal to the environment [3]. 23 There are many methods for AMX removal from sewage water, 24 such as nanofiltration membrane, electrocoagulation, electrochem- 25 ical oxidation, biodegradation, reverse osmosis, ozonation, fenton 26 oxidation, catalytic degradation, and adsorption [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Adsorption 27 has been proven to be an effective process for removal of various 28 antibiotic pollutants from aqueous solutions because of its simple 29 design, flexibility, easy operation, suitability for batch and continu- 30 ous processes, possibility of regeneration and reuse, low capital cost, 31 and capability to remove wide range of pollutant concentrations [13].…”