engleski

Removal of Glucocorticosteroids and Anesthetics from Water with RO/NF Membranes

This study addresses the removal of glucocorticosteroids and anesthetics at relatively low concentrations onto nanofiltration/reverse osmosis (RO/NF) membranes in a long-term operation. Four surrogate compounds in binary and mixture solutions (dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, lidocaine and procaine) and six NF/RO membranes (XLE, SWC, LFC, CPA, NF270 and NF90) were tested under cross-flow conditions. Hydrocortisone and dexamethasone are members of the glucocorticoid class of steroid hormones while lidocaine and procaine are anesthetic drugs. These compounds are considered as the emerging contaminants which should be subject of the removal from the potable water. Feed solutions were prepared by spiking the appropriate amount of stock solution into Milli-Q water and treated in RO/NF laboratory set-up. The RO/NF experiments were of the long-run type to test physicochemical interaction between solute, solvent and a membrane and to get accurate rejection of selected compounds. The analyses of pharmaceuticals were performed using a high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC- DAD) on C18 and CN modified stationary phase. Tested membranes showed almost complete removal of selected compounds and saturation of the membrane system was accomplished.

reverse osmosis; nanofiltration; rejection; glucocorticosteroid; anesthetic

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