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Novel PVDF-PEG-CaCO 3 Membranes to Achieve the Objectives of the Water Circular Economy by Removing Pharmaceuticals from the Aquatic Environment.

Maciej SzwastDaniel PolakWiktoria ArciszewskaIzabela Zielińska
Published in: Membranes (2022)
In the aquatic environment, substances of pharmacological origin are common contaminants. The difficulty of removing them from water is a problem for the implementation of a circular economy policy. When recycling water, an effort should be made to remove, or at least, minimize the presence of these substances in the water. Porous membranes with a new functionality consisting in their adsorption capacity towards pharmaceutical substances have been developed. A Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membrane with Calcium Carbonate (CaCO 3 ) nanoparticles as an adsorbent was prepared. By implementing an integrated filtration-adsorption process using sulphadiazine, as a representative of pharmacological substances, 57 mg/m 2 of adsorption capacity has been obtained, which is an improvement in adsorption properties of more than 50 times that of a commercial membrane. At the same time the membrane permeability is 0.29 m 3 /(h·m 2 ·bar), which means that the membrane's permeability was improved by 75%.
Keyphrases
  • drinking water
  • aqueous solution
  • healthcare
  • risk assessment
  • endothelial cells
  • public health
  • primary care
  • quality improvement
  • mental health
  • cross sectional
  • high resolution
  • tissue engineering