Removal of endocrine disruptors and cytostatics from effluent by nanofiltration in combination with adsorption on powdered activated carbon

Direct capillary nanofiltration also in combination with an upstream powdered activated carbon treatment was tested for high quality water reuse of tertiary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Two endocrine disruptors (BPA and EE2) and two cytostatics (CytR and 5-FU) were spiked in concentrations of 1 to 2 μg/L to evaluate the process performance. In direct NF the real total removal of the micropollutants was between 5 and 40%. Adsorption to the membrane played a major role leading to a seemingly total removal between 35 and 70%. Addition of powdered activated carbon and lignite coke dust largely reduced the influence from adsorption to the membrane and increased the total removal to >95 to 99.9% depending on the PAC type and dose. The cytostatics showed already in direct NF a very high removal due to unspecified losses. Further investigations are ongoing to understand the underlying mechanism. The PAC/NF process provided a consistently high permeate quality with respect to bulk and trace organics.