Development and performance evaluation of a novel CuO/TiO2 ceramic ultrafiltration membrane for ciprofloxacin removal

Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) consists of diverse group of organic chemicals, which becomes a source of emerging concern, if their concentration in aqueous solution exceeds a certain limit. Ciprofloxacin, a frequently used antibiotic, gets excreted from body and its residues are found in water bodies. It is known to inhibit growth of microflora of ecosystem thereby posing great threat to environment. The present work focusses on novel approach of one step removal of ciprofloxacin from synthetic solution using nanocomposite ceramic ultrafiltration membrane based separation process. Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NP) synthesized by green route were used along with TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2 NP) as composite to develop high flux ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) membrane over indigenously developed clay-alumina based macroporous support. The membrane was characterized in terms of X Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm about the membrane composition, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Atomic Fluorescence Microscopy (AFM) was done to get an insight into the morphological properties, the permeation of the membrane was analyzed in terms of BET, clean water permeability, molecular weight cut-off (MWCO). FTIR analysis of membrane post filtration, suggested surface adsorption of ciprofloxacin on membrane and involvement of CO, COO, TiOTi and CuO groups in the process. Effect of various process parameters viz., transmembrane pressure (TMP), cross-flow velocity (CFV), operating time and feed concentration was observed on rejection efficiency of ciprofloxacin using the UF membrane. About 99.5% removal of ciprofloxacin was achieved within 60 min of operating time at 2.0 bar TMP and 2 Lmin-1 of CFV using a feed concentration of 500 μgL−1. Toxicity evaluation of membrane treated permeate was carried out in algae and impact on cellular components and stress enzymes were quantified, showing reduced effect on membrane treated permeate than untreated solution. The process thus targets in remediation of such emerging organic contaminants in a cost-effective, environmental-friendly way for production of clean permeate that can be safely disposed off in the environment.