Amoxicillin removal by Fe-based nanoparticles immobilized on polyacrylonitrile membrane: Individual nanofiltration or Fenton reaction, vs. engineered combined process

Abstract

In this study, nanofiltration (NF) membrane process was combined with Fenton reaction (FT) by incorporating Fe-based nanoparticles (NPs), i.e., goethite (Goe) and maleate ferroxane (Mf) in the structure of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) film to improve the antifouling property and filtration performance of the membrane for amoxicillin (AMX) removal. The relation between the microstructure of the resulted composite with the antifouling properties and membrane performance is extensively investigated. It was found that by NF/FT combined process, foulants could be degraded and the AMX separation efficiency enhanced by 92.3 and 86.3% for PAN/Mf and PAN/Goe membranes, respectively. The permeate fluxes were also increased to 1.4 and 1.2 times of NF membrane filtration alone, respectively. Due to degradation of foulants, the combined NF/FT process exhibited better antifouling properties including flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 97.3 and 96.2% for PAN/Mf and PAN/Goe, respectively. The ratio of irreversible fouling to reversible fouling for NF/FT was lower than individual membrane process. Furthermore, the four cycles of AMX rejection, indicated the good stability and reusability of Fe-based NPs in composite membranes with FT reaction. Consequently, this research proves the successful combination of FT and NF membrane processes. © 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers