A comparative study of antibiotic treatment by different charged nanofiltration membranes

Antibiotics are synthesized organic compounds for such applications as prevention of diseases. However, they have caused a series of ecotoxicological effects that can potentially be harmful to humans and living organisms. Nanofiltration (NF) can effectively remove antibiotics from many waste streams, such as pharmaceutical wastewater. NF membranes are always charged due to carboxyl and amino groups. This study aims to evaluate performance of negatively (nTFC), positively (pTFC), and dually (dTFC) charged NF membranes in treatment of several antibiotic compounds: ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, tetracycline, amikacin, and erythromycin. The values of permeance were 26.1, 19.5, and 14.0 L/(m 2 ·h·bar) for nTFC, dTFC, and pTFC membrane, respectively. The dTFC membrane worked well in both permeability and treatment of the antibiotics. The solution pH greatly influenced the removal efficiency of the nTFC and pTFC membranes, while it had less effect on the dTFC membranes. The results demonstrated that dTFC membrane was more efficient than nTFC and pTFC membranes. It would have great potentials in treatment of such industrial effluent as antibiotics-containing wastewater. Our findings would provide a workable approach for fabrication of NF membranes for better treatment of antibiotics and other similar ones with higher efficiencies and greater selectivity.