Removal of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs from primary and secondary effluents in a photocatalytic membrane reactor

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The pollution of the aquatic environment by pharmaceuticals has become a serious problem. Conventional technologies applied in water or sewage treatment plants are not effective in drugs removal, therefore there is an urgent need to develop new methods. RESULTS:The removal of diclofenac (DCF), ibuprofen (IBU) and naproxen (NAP) sodium salts in a photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR) utilizing direct contact membrane distillation and UV-C radiation from ultrapure water, tap water, primary effluents (PE) and secondary effluents (SE) of municipal wastewater treatment plant is presented. When PE were used as feed and TiO 2 loading of 0.5 g dm −3 was applied, DCF was removed completely, IBU amount decreased for 73% and NAP for 90%. In the case of SE, DCF, IBU and NAP concentrations decreased by 100%, 93% and 94%, respectively (1.5 gTiO 2 dm −3 ). Mineralization was low and did not exceed 14% for PE and 23% for SE. No drugs were found in the distillate, however, it contained high level of N-NH 4 + , especially in PE.CONCLUSION: The hybrid system can be an effective technology for the removal of pharmaceuticals from SE and PE, however, owing to membrane fouling the latter should be pretreated before application in the PMR.

Coupling of membrane filtration and advanced oxidation processes for removal of pharmaceutical residues: A critical review

“…Better mineralization in secondary than primary effluent [243] Although PMs have been studied for removal of some organics like humic acids [195,210], textile dyes [211,223,229,244,245], and bacterial disinfection [196], only few studies are available on use of this technique for remediation of PhACs. In fact, the most relevant study on removal of PhACs by PMs was recently reported by Ramasundaram et al [45].…”

Photocatalytic Membrane Reactors (PMRs) in Water Treatment: Configurations and Influencing Factors

“…Meanwhile, the non-volatile components stay in the feed side of the membrane and their theoretical retention rate is 100%. The temperature and the composition of the solution in the layers adjacent to the membrane determine the vapor pressure difference between both sides of membrane, which acts as the driving force of the mass transfer through the membrane [82,83]. There are several types of MD configurations such as direct contact MD (DCMD), vacuum MD, sweep gas MD and air gap MD.…”

“…In a photocatalysis-DCMD system, the photocatalyst cannot be evaporated into gas phase, thus it is unable to pass through the membrane pores and the membrane fouling caused by photocatalyst particles reduces consequently. Despite the advantages, a disadvantage of PMR-DCMD is that the permeate flux is relative lower compared to that in the pressure-driven processes [82]. …”

A novel photocatalytic membrane decorated with RGO‐Ag‐TiO2 for dye degradation and oil–water emulsion separation

“…Photocatalytic materials have attracted great interest due to their ability to utilize light energy to alleviate the deterioration of water resources. [18][19][20][21] Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), an excellent photocatalyst which is non-toxic, cheap, and chemically stable, is hailed as one of the most promising candidate for organic pollutant degradation. [22][23][24][25] Incorporation of TiO 2 into filtration membrane enhances its flux and hydrophilicity.…”