The Treatment of Wastewater According to the Oriented Membrane Processes for the Extraction and Recovery of the Norfloxacin Compound

In human and veterinary medicine, antibiotics are among the most widely used therapeutic classes in the world. Many concerns have been expressed about the toxic effects of these drugs on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In particular, norfloxacin (NRF) is one of the most frequently used antibiotics, hence, its high detection frequency in wastewater effluents. Membrane technology is considered among the most appropriate techniques to address this environmental problem. In this approach, a polymer inclusion membrane (PIM), consisting of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether (2-NPOE) as a plasticizer, and Tween 20 amphiphilic molecule as a carrier, has been developed and adopted for the extraction and recovery of NRF. UV-Visible spectrophotometer was adapted to determine the extracted NRF concentrations. Two factors were studied: the effect of initial NRF concentration C₀ and the effect of temperature on the evolution of macroscopic parameters (permeability P and initial flux J₀), microscopic (association constant K_ass and apparent diffusion coefficient D*), and activation parameters (activation energy E_a, enthalpy ∆H^♯, and entropy ∆S^♯). All parameters make it possible to elucidate the diffusion movement of the substrate through the membrane phase and to specify the kinetic or energetic aspect that controls the mechanism of these studied oriented processes.