Iran. J. Environ. Health. Sci. Eng., 2010, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 15-24
15
*Corresponding author: E-mail: zazoli49@yahoo.com
Tel: +98 1513 54 30 80-5
EFFECT OF HYDROPHILIC AND HYDROPHOBIC ORGANIC
MATTER ON AMOXICILLIN AND CEPHALEXIN RESIDUALS
REJECTION FROM WATER BY NANOFILTRATION
*1M.A.Zazouli, 2M.Ulbricht, 3S. Nasseri, 2H. Susanto,
1Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences,
Sari, Iran
2Lehrstuhl für Technische Chemie II, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
3Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences,
Tehran, Iran
Received 11 July 2009; revised 29 November 2009;accepted 20 December 2009
ABSTRACT
Antibiotics such as amoxicillin and cephalexin are a group of pharmaceutical compounds in human medicine
practice that have been entered in water bodies. Presence of these compounds in the environment has raised
concerns regarding the toxicity to aquatic organisms and the emergence of strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Removal of these substances before entering the aquatic environment as well as water reuse plant is very
important. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the impact of hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions
of Natural Organic Matter (NOM) on the removal efficiency of cephalexin and amoxicillin, by using two different
commercially available composite NF membranes (TFC-SR2 and TFC-SR3). In addition, the effect of NOM
fractions on retention mechanism and permeates flux behavior was studied. Amoxicillin and cephalexin were used
as models of antibiotics; alginate and humic acid were used as models of hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions
of NOM, respectively. It was observed that the rejection and permeate flux of amoxicillin and cephalexin were
influenced by the membrane characteristics and properties of NOM. The results showed that as the alginate
proportion was increased, the rejection improved. The permeate flux decreased with increas