Chemical Engineering Department, Campus de Espinardo, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
Chemical Engineering and Environmental Department, University of Cartagena, 30203 Cartagena, Spain.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 12;18(8):4036. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084036.
Currently, there is great concern about global water pollution. Wastewater generally contains substances called emerging pollutants, and if the removal of these pollutants is not given sufficient attention, the pollutants can enter into the water cycle and reach the water supply for domestic use, causing adverse effects on the well-being of people. In order to avoid this menace, a multitude of techniques to reduce the high concentration levels of these substances dissolved in water are being researched and developed. One of the most-used techniques for this goal is the physical-chemical separation of contaminants in water through membrane technology. In this study, different membranes were tested with the objective of investigating the removal of three emerging pollutants: caffeine, metformin, and methyl-paraben. Initially, a nanofiltration (NF) membrane was selected, and the influence of pressure was evaluated in the rejection coefficients and permeate fluxes. Next, a screening of three new membranes to remove methyl paraben was completed. The influence of the operating variables, working pressure, and methyl paraben-feed concentration was checked. Finally, the solution-diffusion model was applied to predict the behavior of the different membranes in the removal of methyl paraben. A good correlation between experimental and calculated values of permeate flux and methyl paraben concentration was obtained.
目前，全球水污染问题引起了极大关注。废水中通常含有所谓的新兴污染物，如果不对这些污染物的去除给予足够重视，它们可能会进入水循环，并到达供家庭使用的供水系统，对人们的健康福祉产生不利影响。为了避免这种威胁，正在研究和开发多种技术来降低水中溶解的这些物质的高浓度水平。用于实现这一目标的最常用技术之一是通过膜技术实现水中污染物的物理化学分离。在这项研究中，测试了不同的膜，目的是研究去除三种新兴污染物：咖啡因、二甲双胍和甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯。首先，选择了一种纳滤（NF）膜，并评估了压力对截留系数和渗透通量的影响。接下来，完成了三种新膜去除甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯的筛选。检查了操作变量、工作压力和甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯进料浓度的影响。最后，应用溶液扩散模型来预测不同膜在去除甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯时的行为。渗透通量和甲基对羟基苯甲酸酯浓度的实验值和计算值之间得到了很好的相关性。
