engleski

Removal of veterinary drugs from wastewater by characterized RO/NF membranes

Veterinary drugs are biologicaly active organic compounds and certainly identified as emerging contaminants in water environment. A large source of these pollutants are industrial water streams that should be cleaned from such substances before discharge into water recipient. An interesting waste stream is the wastewater of manufacturing plant producing pharmaceuticals for veterinary use, containing residuals of antibiotiocs and other organics. Therefore, the removal of organic micropollutants from waste water is necessary, and the optimal wastewater treatment are membrane pressure driven processes, particulary reverse osmosis and nanofiltration. The objective of this research was to investigate the removal of veterinary drugs from model and real wastewaters of a manufacturing plant producing pharmaceuticals for veterinary use, and to find optimal membrane type and operating conditions for pilot experiments. The membrane active layer porosity (pore size distribution, effective number of pores, susceptibility of active layer under pressure) as well as the efficiency of several RO/NF membranes to remove some of frequenty used veterinary antibiotics and other organics from waste waters were determined. The rejection mechanisms for each membrane's type are described based on the organics and antibiotics rejections relating to porosity of membranes' active layer. The removal of examined veterinary drugs by most of the RO and the tight NF membranes is acceptably high.

reverse osmosis; nanofiltration; membranes; veterinary drugs; removal of organics micropolutants

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