APPLICATION OF NANOFILTRATION MEMBRANE IN THE SEPARATION OF AMOXICILLIN FROM PHARMACEUTICAL WASTEWATER

Abstract

Separation of amoxicillin from pharmaceutical wastewater by
nanofiltration (NF) membrane has been investigated in this study. For
this purpose a membrane system including a polyamide spiral wound NF
membrane was evaluated for the treatment of amoxicillin wastewater. The
effects of operating conditions such as flow rate, pressure and
concentration of amoxicillin and COD in the feed, on the efficiency of
the membrane were evaluated. The permeation flux and rejection of
amoxicillin and COD were the criteria for this evaluation. The rejection
of the amoxicillin by the selected NF membrane was adequate and in most
cases exceeded 97% whereas COD reached a maximum of 40% rejection and
permeation flux was over 1.5 L/min.m^{2. The rise in pressure
enhanced the transport rate of the solvents. Permeation flux of the NF
membrane increased with increasing flow rates. Experimental data also
indicated that concentration polarization existed in this membrane
separation process. The stable permeation flux and high rejection of
amoxicillin indicated the potential of NF for the recovery of
amoxicillin from the pharmaceutical wastewater}