engleski

Removal of veterinary pharmaceuticals with RO/NF membranes

Until recently, pharmaceuticals have received comparatively little attention as pollutants in the aquatic environment which is surprising considering that unlike many other pollutants, pharmaceuticals have a direct biological action on microbes. Also, the presence of antibacterial agents in aquatic environments is of growing interest worldwide due to the emergence and development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and disrupts key cycles/processes critical to aquatic ecology. Veterinary pharmaceuticals (VPs) belong to the biological class of pharmaceuticals and they are used to treat disease and to protect the health of animals. Applied to farmlands (animal manure is used to agricultural fields as a fertilizer) the active ingredients reach the upper soil layer, where they either may accumulate or may be rinsed off into surface waters or may leach to groundwater where they can impact both human and environmental health. More than 30 pharmaceuticals substances have been found in sewage influent and effluent samples, in surface waters and even ground and drinking water. These unregulated contaminants may be candidates for future regulations, depending on research on their potential health effect and monitoring data regarding their occurrence. Also they are commonly derived from municipal, agricultural and industrial wastewater sources and pathways due to often inadequate treatment in conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Membrane filtration processes using reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes showed the excellent removal. RO and NF are recognized as the leading water treatment technologies for the 21st century, due to their high separation effectiveness and environmental acceptability (‘’green technology’’), reduced market prices and application in various fluid treatments. This study explores the removal of five veterinary pharmaceuticals (sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, dexamethasone and febantel), and their mixture from Milli-Q water by NF and RO, using four types of NF membranes (NF90, NF270, NF and HL) and two RO membranes (LFC–1 and XLE). All veterinary pharmaceuticals were added at a concentration of 10 mg L-1. A great removal of all VPs was achieved with RO (LFC, XLE) and tight nanofiltration (NF90) membranes and a good removal of bigger VPs molecules was achieved with other NF membranes. Obtained results confirm the usability of the examined RO and NF membranes for the removal of veterinary pharmaceuticals from water, especially the XLE and NF90 membranes of high productivity.

Removal efficiency; RO/NF membranes; Veterinary pharmaceuticals

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