Performance evaluation of ceramic and polymeric membrane application in hybrid system (membranes + O3/UV) for pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) removal from hospital wastewater

Junyoung Kim; Jae Won Lee; Seongjun Park; Seokhwan Jeon; Kownki Lee; Jong-Oh Kim

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138804

Performance evaluation of ceramic and polymeric membrane application in hybrid system (membranes + O₃/UV) for pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) removal from hospital wastewater

J Hazard Mater. 2025 Jun 4:495:138804. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138804. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Junyoung Kim¹, Jae Won Lee¹, Seongjun Park¹, Seokhwan Jeon¹, Kownki Lee², Jong-Oh Kim³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea; Synopex INC, Dongtanhana 1-gil, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jk120@hanyang.ac.kr.

PMID: 40472558
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138804

Abstract

This study investigates the suitability of a hybrid system combining membrane filtration and ozone oxidation for efficiently treating pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in hospital wastewater. Two feedstocks, untreated (F-1) and biologically treated wastewater (F-2), were used to determine the optimal system location for maximizing PPCPs reduction. F-2 application was found to be more effective based on the observed reaction rate constant, membrane performance, and structural transitions. The cleaning chemicals and foulant layer formation caused structural changes in both the PAN and α-Al₂O₃ membranes. Moreover, contact angle measurements confirmed that increased hydrophobicity induced contaminant attraction and decreased the membrane flux. Performance evaluation results revealed 77.87 % (PAN) and 74.13 % (α-Al₂O₃) reductions in total organic carbon from F-2. The decrease in membrane flux was observed in the following order: α-Al₂O₃ (F-1) > PAN (F-1) > PAN (F-2) > α- Al₂O₃ (F-2). Pseudo-first-order fitting confirmed that the degradation rate constants (k₁) were higher under the F-2 exposure conditions. The order of degradation rate is carbamazepine > trimethoprim > atenolol > acetaminophen > sulfamethoxazole > caffeine. Analysis of degradation pathways and toxicity suggests that transformation products formed during membrane + O₃/UV hybridized process are environmentally benign and do not pose significant health risks.

Keywords: Advanced oxidation processes; Hospital wastewater; Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs); Transformation products; UF membrane process.