Removal of endocrine disrupting compounds by nanofiltration membranes

Recently, endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have drawn increasing attention as emerging pollutants in the source of drinking water. In the present study, the rejection of EDCs by nanofiltration (NF) was investigated. The experimental results indicate that bisphenol A (BPA), estradiol (E1) and estrone (E2) have a high adsorptive affinity on the membrane surface. We examined the effect of solution chemistry, inorganic matter and pH on the rejection of selected hormones (BPA, E1 and E2) on the surface of the nanofiltration membranes. The increase of initial EDCs concentration has negative effect on EDCs removal. The rejection of EDCs decreases with the increase of pH when pH<7 and increases with the increase of pH when pH≥7. There is a slight decrease in the rejection of EDCs when the ionic strength increases.