Deploying nanoparticle-doped polymeric membranes in treating water contaminated with ciprofloxacin

Abstract:

The antibiotic Ciprofloxacin HCl (CPH) is a representative example of pharmaceutical contaminants of emerging concern which are frequently released in wastewater effluents and can cause hazardous health effects. In this work, we investigate the potential of utilizing porous polymeric membranes incorporating metal nanoparticles for removing CPH from water. In this regard, polylactic acid membranes were impregnated in situ with single, binary and tertiary systems of nanoparticles of cobalt, copper and nickel, among others. Membranes loaded with cobalt exhibited the best performance among all the examined membranes. They yielded removal efficiencies above 80% at an initial CPH concentration range of 10-50 ppm and pH 6.5, thus exceeding those of the bare membranes by about 1.3 times under the same conditions. As confirmed by Brunauer, Emmet and Teller (BET) analysis, the incorporation of cobalt nanoparticles into the mesoporous membranes increased their surface area and pore volume by 5 and 10 times, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that cobalt nanoparticles had no catalytic influence on the dissociation of the membrane polymeric chains. Fourier Transform Infra-red (FTIR) and zeta potential measurements suggested that binding could possibly occur via physical along with catalytic degradation.