title: RO/NF membrane treatment of veterinary pharmaceutical wastewater: comparison of results obtained on a laboratory and a pilot scale.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emerging contaminants (ECs) are commonly derived from industrial wastewater, which is often a consequence of an inadequate treatment of the latter. Improperly pretreated pharmaceutical wastewater could cause difficulties in operations of wastewater treatment plants while incomplete elimination of ECs during the processing might result in their appearance in drinking water.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper deals with membrane treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater on a laboratory and a pilot scale as well as with the removal of the following veterinary pharmaceuticals (VPs) (sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, ciprofloxacin, dexamethasone, and febantel).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pretreatment of pharmaceutical wastewater by means of coagulation and microfiltration (MF) prevented the irreversible fouling of the fine porous structure of the reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes which were used in the final stage of wastewater processing. The percentage of the removal of the selected VPs ranges from 94% to almost 100% in the case of NF and RO membranes in both scales. The recovery percentage concerning the pilot scale amounted to 88%. Membrane cleaning was successfully carried out in both scales.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The differences in retention between laboratory and pilot tests are due to different raw wastewater quality and different recovery and hydrodynamic of the two systems. Fouling and concentration polarization were more pronounced in laboratory setup (frame-plate module) than in pilot unit (spiral module). The proposed integrated membrane treatment (coagulation, MF, NF, and RO) can be employed for treatment of wastewater originating from pharmaceutical factory. The obtained permeate can be safely discharged to sewer system or could be reused in manufacturing process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia. dolar@fkit.hr
authors.forename: Davor
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dolar
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ignjatić Zokić
authors.forename: Krešimir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Košutić
authors.forename: Danijela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ašperger
authors.forename: Dragana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mutavdžić Pavlović
mesh_terms: D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D009995:Osmosis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019155:Veterinary Drugs / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D019155:Veterinary Drugs; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical