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Nano-sorbent materials for pharmaceutical-based wastewater effluents - An overview

K.M. Aguilar-Pérez, J.I. Avilés-Castrillo, Gustavo Ruiz-Pulido

PII: S2666-0164(20)30026-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscee.2020.100028
Reference: CSCEE 100028

To appear in: Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Received Date: 20 June 2020

Revised Date: 21 July 2020
Accepted Date: 23 July 2020

Please cite this article as: K.M. Aguilar-Pérez, J.I. Avilés-Castrillo, G. Ruiz-Pulido, Nano-sorbent
materials for pharmaceutical-based wastewater effluents - An overview, Case Studies in Chemical and
Environmental Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscee.2020.100028.

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 Nano-sorbent materials for pharmaceutical-based
wastewater effluents - An overview
K.M. Aguilar-Pérez *, J. I. Avilés-Castrillo, and Gustavo Ruiz-Pulido
Tecnologico de Monterrey, School of Engineering and Sciences, Atizapan de
Zaragoza, Estado de Mexico 52926, Mexico.
*Corresponding author email: katyaguilar2904@gmail.com (K.M. Aguilar-Pérez).

Abstract
Wastewater treatment has been one of the biggest challenges to overcome
worldwide, being pharmaceutical effluents some of the main residues associated
with water pollution. The implementation of nanotechnology to remove
pharmaceutical pollutants from respective wastewater effluents, such as
antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, antiviral drugs, toxic dyes, among others, has
been increasing during the last decades. The sorbent materials produced at
nanoscale offer unique properties, such as high absorption, large surface area,
eco-friendly fabrication, and huge affinity to organic and inorganic compounds. This
article aims to provide an overview for researchers about some of the current
nanotechnology applications for the treatment of pharmaceutical-based wastewater
effluents. Sustainable exploitation of novel nano-sorbent materials could be useful
for environmental purposes focused on the removal of pollutants in water.
Keywords: Wastewater; Emerging contaminants; Nanomaterials; Environmental
impact

Introduction - problem statement and opportunities

Nowadays, the world is facing a huge environmental problem related to water
contamination due to a wide variety of industrial, agricultural, and domestic waste.
The above-mentioned waste sources have severely polluted groundwater and
surface water via the sewer system, reducing their quality as a supplier of
freshwater for human use [1]. Highlighting that, for instance, antibiotics
(tetracycline), anti-inflammatories (Ibuprofen), antidepressants (Carbamazepine),
hormones (Estradiol), anticonvulsants (Phenytoin), beta-blockers (Propranolol),
lipid regulators (Fenofibric acid), and X-ray contrast, are among the most
commonly detected pharmaceutical-based pollutants [2]. These toxic contaminants
modify the physical and chemical properties of water, representing a high risk for
human health and entire living ecosystems [3]. This is also because most of them
are considered persistent or emerging environmental contaminants, which are
difficult to degrade, completely [4]. Besides, pharmaceutical wastes in water are
related to endocrine disruption, chronic diseases, allergies, tumors, antibiotic
resistance, microflora imbalance, metabolic perturbations, among other health
problems [2], [5]. Meanwhile, aquatic life is affected by disrupting many
physiological functions, damaging fish spawning, reducing fertility, bioaccumulation
of pollutants in body tissue, and eutrophication [2], [6]. The identification,
quantification, control, and elimination of contaminants represents a fundamental
issue to prevent or minimize adverse effects in human health and environmental
damage [7].
However, the adequate treatment of wastewater needs improvements in its
methods to counter the increasing use of harmful biological or chemical
substances in pharmaceutical activities, which sometimes are difficult to identify, to
treat, or to eliminate [5]. These substances are usually found in deficient
concentrations (μg/L or ng/L), so they tend to escape from treatments and begin to
accumulate on the environment due to their low volatile properties [8]. As well,
toxic secondary products result from some conventional water treatment
methodologies such as chlorination or ozonation [9]. Otherwise, the population also
contributes to pollute with pharmaceutical compounds by releasing them into the
environment by flushing unused drugs, inappropriate disposal of drugs, or even
human and animal excretions [5]. So, there is an urgent need to remove all these
potentially toxic and hazardous contaminants from aquatic ecosystems to avoid
ecological damage and adverse effects on human health [4], [8]. Therefore, the
water treatment industry is working on the development of sustainable solutions
through the research of more effective purification materials, which should be able
to remove several pollutants during the same procedure to achieve the standard
limits established on the regulations [10]. Mainly, because conventional
methodologies, such as mechanical, biological, chemical, and physical treatments,
or even a combination of these sometimes are incapable of degrading or
eliminating complex compounds or metabolites [5]. Thus, attention is focused on
developing sustainable, powerful, and cost-effective methodologies to produce
freshwater for human use [11].
A recent alternative to mitigate pharmaceutical pollution of water is
nanotechnology, which is focused on the development of new devices, materials
and structures that have at least one nanoscale dimension ranging from 1 to 100
nm [1], [12], [13]. Additionally, nanomaterials provide unique physicochemical
characteristics, including nano size, large surface area, strong solution mobility,
high reactivity, a great number of active sites, catalytic potential, porosity, strong
adsorption, dispersibility, enhanced redox and photocatalytic properties [1], [3], [6].
Thus, nanotechnology represents a modern tool for treating contaminated water
with metallic ions, organic and inorganic solutes, and microorganisms, by
designing particles and filters that interacts with the pollutants through binding or
causing inactivation and degradation [7].
Otherwise, the use of nano-based water treatment applications is classified into
three main groups: water filtration, water remediation, and water purification [1].
Water filtration is based on the use of semi-permeable nanoporous membranes
(0.001 to 0.01 μm) with high stability, easy and cheap operation and low energy
consumption, for removing unwanted organic compounds and micro-pollutants [5],
[11], [14]. Water remediation is focused on the phenomena of adsorption to
eliminate a broad variety of chemical pollutants [5] through nanosorbents that are
nanostructures with high affinity for specific organic or inorganic materials, such as
zeolites, carbon-based, bio-based and metal oxide-based materials [3], which
represents a simple, effective, easy to operate and widely used method for
removing water pollutants [8]. Finally, water purification or disinfection is targeted
on the effective control of pathogens without the formation of toxic disinfection
residues [10] by the use of nanomaterials with antibacterial activity as graphene-
based materials, metallic and bioactive composites [1], [14].
Role of nanomaterials in wastewater treatment
Carbon-based sorbent materials
Adsorption represents one of the most important water treatment methodologies
for removing organic and inorganic water pollutants, due to its easy operation and
design, usually low cost and the wide range of contaminants that can remove [5].
During the adsorption process, the solutes present in the gas or the liquid sample
are attached and accumulated in the absorbent, which is commonly a solid surface
[12]. Otherwise, nanosorbents are nanoscale structures characterized by a large
reactive surface area, high porosity, catalytic potential, and high affinity [3].
Carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) are composed entirely or mainly by carbon
atoms [15], and they are characterized by their useful properties for water
treatment and desalination, including mechanical strength, electron affinity, and
flexibility during functionalization [11]. Even, CBNs can be integrated into
membranes or other structural media for enhancing its properties to remove
aqueous pollutants [12]. The most common CBNs include carbon nanotubes
(single-walled and multi-walled), carbon nanofibers, graphene, fullerene, carbon-
based composites, and derivatives [15]. Highlighting that the most used kind of
absorbent for water treatment are granular activated carbon and powdered
activated carbon as a result of their broad-spectrum removal capability, low cost,
high absorption properties, and easy disposal. However, they present slow
adsorption kinetics and difficulty for regeneration [5]. For overcoming those
disadvantages, carbon nanotubes were developed as a new generation of
carbonaceous adsorbents, and even, they demonstrated higher adsorption
capability and efficiency [9].
Carbon nanotubes-based sorbent materials
The need to improve water quality has encouraged the research of new materials
for reducing and eliminating pollutants through wastewater treatment. Carbon-
based materials have demonstrated their superior adsorbent properties to remove
organic and inorganic contaminants from water. Among carbon-based materials,
carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have emerged as a possible alternative [3]. CNTs
represent a carbon allotrope in which a hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms in SP2
hybridization (graphitic sheets) are rolled in a cylinder-shaped structure [1], [9].
CNTs are classified in two main categories depending on the number of graphene
sheets rolled to form the tube: single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) that consist on a
single layer of carbon atoms, and multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) that consist up to
dozens of carbon layers [5], [11]. Moreover, SWCNTs exhibit a diameter between 0
to 3 nm; while, MWCNTs can reach up to 100 nm of diameter [12].
CTNs exhibit particular morphological and physicochemical characteristics that
offer significant advantages over other adsorbents, as high and rapid absorption
capabilities, thermal and oxidation stability, electrical conductivity, high electron
storage capacity, and flexibility [3], [9]. In the same way, CTNs present some
disadvantages such as a highly hydrophobic surface, low dispersion in aqueous
solutions and poor interfacial interaction, which produces agglomeration, reducing
their adsorption efficiency [9], [11], as well as, potential toxicity to aquatic
organisms in concentrations of mg/L, depending on the organism [16]. Moreover,
since their discovery, CNTs have been extensively used as effective adsorbents,
but its application is limited due to its high synthesis and purification cost,
compared with absorbents such as activated carbon [3]. CTNs performance can be
optimized through functionalizing the surface of the nanotubes with different
functional groups to improve their environmental applications. Functionalization
with carboxylic, lactonic, or phenolic groups stimulates polar compounds
adsorption through chemical interactions. Instead, an unfunctionalized surface
tends to adsorb non-polar compounds by physical forces [3], [9], [12]. One
example of the advantages of functionalization was achieved by Wang et al. by
comparing the removal of acetaminophen between non functionalized MWCNTs
and hydroxylated MWCNTs, where after 120 minutes of filtration 29% and 74% of
the pollutant was removed, respectively [17].
Graphene-based sorbent materials
As well as CNTs, graphene represents an emerging carbon-based nanosorbent for
removing water contaminants [6], which consists of a particular two-dimensional
single layer of sp2 hybridized carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice [12],
[18]. Since the last decade, graphene has drawn the attention of the scientific
community because of its superior properties compared with other nanosorbents.
Even, graphene oxide offers some comparative advantages over CNTs, such as
lower production costs, higher adsorbent surface (single graphene layer allows it to
interact with pollutants through its two basal planes; while, inner walls of CNTs are
not accessible by adsorbates), easier synthesis method by graphite exfoliation,
free of catalysis residues synthesis, and a larger number of oxygen-containing
functional groups that increase its absorbent potential [3], [13]. Nevertheless,
graphene oxide presents some restrictions due to the characteristics of the treated
solution, affects graphene adsorption capacity, including pH, ionic strength,
temperature, and natural organic matter or surfactant concentrations [13].
Furthermore, graphene-based materials have been studied for enhancing
separation membranes properties, such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse
osmosis, forward osmosis, ion exchange, among other membranes [19]. However,
nanofiltration has aroused a lot of attention based on its unique properties with a
separation capability among 200 – 1000 g/mol [20], in which 2D graphene oxide
sheets are organized in a composite membrane to establish laminar nanochannels
(around 0.9 nm) that allows an effective water path and blocks larger molecules
[21]. In addition, graphene oxide membranes present an energy-efficient and
simple operational process as advantages over other membranes, so they are
widely used for wastewater treatment despite their mechanical strength, selectivity,
thermochemical stability, and permeability should be increased [22].
Biogenic nanoparticles-based sorbent materials
Synthesis of metallic nanoparticles includes physical, chemical, and biological
methods. Physical methods include evaporation-condensation, laser ablation,
electrolysis, pyrolysis, diffusion plasma arcing, sputter deposition, and high energy
balling; chemical methods involve techniques such as chemical reduction,
microemulsion, electrochemical, thermal decomposition, sol-gel process and
coprecipitation [23]. Several nanosorbent materials based metallic nanoparticles
have been developed by using physical and chemical methods to remove dyes and
antibiotics, for instance, Rhodamine [24], amoxicillin [25], and doxorubicin [26].
Therefore, biological methods comprise the exploitation of biological mass either
plant or microbial mediated as reductant agent via extracellularly or intracellularly
[27].
As efficient nanosorbents, biogenic nanoparticles have been developed among
research groups worldwide for wastewater treatment from pharmaceutical
industries. The formation of this kind of nanoparticles is given by the presence of
bioactive molecules such as peptides, enzymes, vitamins, alkaloids, phenolics,
among others obtained from different bio sources (e.g., plant extracts, bacteria,
fungi, etc.) that are combined with a metal salt solution under different conditions
depending on nature of the precursor materials and the final intended used of NPs
[28]. Microbial green technology has been successfully used to synthesized
zirconia nanoparticles for adsorption driven bioremediation of tetracycline from
wastewater by Debnath et al., [29]. It was found that the use of Pseudomonas
aeruginosa as a bioactive source in the synthesis process allowed the formation of
secondary metabolites during the bacterial growth, which contributed to capping
and stabilizing agents for the ZrO2NPs formation. According to the authors, the
NPs showed a high adsorption capacity for tetracycline (526.32 mg/g) in 15 min at
neutral pH 6.0, which makes them economical and suitable for practical
applications.
The potential application of this type of nanoparticles has also played an important
role in caffeine degradation that is considered the most representative ingredient
used for drug preparation proposes and pharmaceutically active compound
pollutant based [30]. According to a recent study performed by Muthukumar and
coworkers [31], the use of silver ferrite nanoparticles fabricated with Amaranthus
blitum leaf extract may act as a photocatalytic degrader of caffeine in synthetic
coffee wastewater. The authors reported a maximum degradation of 99.9% at pH
9.0 in 15 h and 95% degradation in 24h under optimized conditions suggesting the
NPs formulation as a potential catalyst for treating caffeine wastewater.
Furthermore, a new biosorbent system based Keratine nanoparticles obtained from
human hair has been applied for cationic dye removal of crystal violet from
aqueous solution by Abbasi and coworkers [32] as a suitable procedure to reuse
wasted hairs. The stability studies showed the enormous potential of NPs to be
used as a safe, economical and effective biosorbent for removal of different
cationic dyes, the contribution percentage of the factor for removal crystal violet
was 75.97% at pH 7 and contact time up to 5h.
Nanofiltration membranes
Nanofiltration (NF) is a process in which excellent quality water can be obtained
employing pressure. NF membranes are highly accepted due to their low cost,
good uptake of pollutants, low energy consumption, and biocompatibility [13], [33].
This type of membrane is used to capture groundwater, drinking water, wastewater
treatment, and surface water [34]. Its main applications are for the purification of
refined oil, chemical production, and carbon capture. It has been detected that
more than 200 pharmaceutical active compounds are found in groundwater [35],
being an environmental hazard, some of the effects that can produce are disorders
in animal reproduction, bacterial resistance to antibiotics, bioaccumulation of drugs,
and high persistence of some drugs after treatment by drinking water treatment
plants. NF membranes can retain pharmaceutical industry compounds by being
hydrophilic and biologically persistent. In turn, due to the electrostatic effect, it
helps to have a better rejection of the pharmaceutical compounds, having an
improvement in the adsorption of the membrane [36].
The NF membranes fall into three categories; inorganic membranes, organic
polymeric membranes, and organic-inorganic membranes, each having a
representative factor in the percentage of drug removal in the water. Most NF
membranes have a thin-film, which is a multi-layer composite, the support layers,
which provide support and allow flow and the active layer, which can perform
separation with high selectivity [33]. The removal of contaminants is related to the
pore size and the electric charge of the NF membrane [34]. Some studies indicate
that the deposition of nanoparticles on the surface of the membrane increases the
rejection of the solutes and reduces the membrane fouling. Although, the
deposition of these nanoparticles reduces the density of the pores, increasing the
energy consumption during filtering [37].
Some studies mention that incorporating nanoparticles to the surface of the NF
membrane improves the percentage of removal of pharmaceutical actives [25],
[37]–[39]. Additionally, NF membranes aid the removal of highly water-soluble
drugs and compounds, like sulfamethazine and triclosan having removal
percentages higher than 90% when percentages are normally less than 40% [40].
It should be noted that existing nanofiltration membranes that incorporate carbon
structures, such as graphene [41], or can be composed entirely of graphene oxide
such as thin-film graphene membranes [42]. The innovation of this type of
membranes is that they present simple accessibility, high mechanical strength,
chemical stability, higher surface area, facility of separation from water,
recyclability, and superhydrophobicity [43]. Due to surface lipophilic, it tends to
attract hydrophobic contaminants, essentially used in the pharmaceutical industry,
having percentages of removal of these from 65% to 99% [41]–[43].
Conclusion and recommendations
Nanotechnology has taken a transcendent interest for wastewater treatment, due
to its small size, large surface area, large porosity, and high chemical reaction of
the nanomaterials; They have better properties, whether catalytic, adsorption or
filtering. Removing different organic and inorganic compounds of the water used in
the pharmaceutical industry. The different types of nanomaterials, used for this
purpose, have their advantages and disadvantages such as; Carbon-based
nanomaterials, which are easy to manipulate, have a large surface area and
volume, which allows a higher amount of compounds to be adsorbed, up to 99%,
[21], but these have a high price, unusual specificity and extraordinary toxicity to
the environment. Whereas, biogenic materials are eco-friendly and in some
circumstances such nanomaterials can be recovered from waste, obtaining an
efficient degradation of drugs (99%) [29], the disadvantage of these materials is
the necessity of controlled environments to evaluate their performance,
additionally, more in-depth research endeavors are needed to optimize fabrication
protocols in terms of yield and cost, culturing and management of the bio sources
implemented during the synthesis processes; Nanofiltration membranes, this type
of nanomaterials have an excellent price, consume scarce energy, the synthesis is
scaled industrially and have an excellent removal of pharmaceutical industry
compounds, more than 90% [47]. The disadvantages are that these membranes
have a specific life-time and have not been evaluated their toxicity to the
environment.
Even though there is a significant advance in the investigation of nanomaterials
and knowledge of their capability to remove compounds utterly, there is still the
challenge of recycling these nanomaterials. Furthermore, in many cases, exists the
problem of the stability of the nanoparticles, which tend to agglomerate with time.
In general, the most critical issues to address are fate and toxicity studies of these
nanomaterials in the environment and the implementation of strategies and
protocols for proper disposal or recycling. For the above reasons, the synthesis of
environmentally friendly nanomaterials with low toxicity is captivating attention in
this area.
Acknowledgments
All listed authors are thankful to their representative universities for providing the
literature services.
Conflict of interests
The authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interest.
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List of Figures

Fig. 1 Schematic representation of classification pharmaceutical waste in aqueous

medium and the use of potential nanosorbent materials for wastewater treatment.
List of Tables
Table 1 Reports of carbon-based nanomaterials for wastewater treatment of
pharmaceutical compounds.
Nanomaterial Synthesis Contaminant Characterization Percentage Reference
process techniques removal

Catalytic
chemical vapor
Hydroxylated
deposition XPS, FT-IR,
multi-walled
technique Acetaminophen BET, SEM, ~74% [17]
carbon nanotubes
TEM, TGA
(H-MWCNT)
Oxidation with
H2SO4

Chemical vapor
Ozone treated
deposition
multi-walled SEM, FT-IR,
technique Acetaminophen ~ 95 % [44]
carbon nanotubes XRD
(MWCNT)
Ozonation

Acetaminophen ~100%
Naproxen ~70%
Multi-walled Chemical vapor
Ibuprofen ~70%
carbon nanotubes deposition TEM, TGA [45]
Ketoprofen ~40%
(MWCNT) technique
Nadolol ~70%
Bisoprolol ~40%

Multi-walled Chemical vapor

carbon nanotubes deposition Aniline SEM, TEM ~ 98.9% [46]
(MWCNT) technique

Multi-walled Chemical vapor

carbon nanotubes deposition Cephalexin SEM, TGA ~ 96.83% [47]
(MWCNT) technique

Catalytic
Carboxylate
chemical vapor
group
deposition
functionalized Ethidium SEM, FT-IR,
technique ~ 38.42% [48]
single-walled bromide TGA
carbon nanotubes
Oxidation with
(SWCNT)
H2SO4
 Magnetic
multi-walled Co-precipitation XRD, TGA,
Naproxen ~67.2% [49]
carbon nanotubes method SEM, FT-IR
(M-MWCNT)

Multi-walled Chemical vapor

carbon nanotubes deposition Olaquindox TEM, FT-IR ~99.7% [50]
(MWCNT) technique

Multi-walled Chemical vapor

TEM, FT-IR,
carbon nanotubes deposition Tetracycline ~99.8% [51]
TGA
(MWCNT) technique

Chemical vapor
deposition ~53.1 -
Multi-walled
technique SEM, FT-IR, 99.9%
carbon nanotubes Tetracycline [52]
EDS, XRD, pH
(MWCNT)
Oxidation with variations
H2SO4:H2O2
Table 2 Biogenic nanomaterials for wastewater treatment of pharmaceutical
compounds.
Nanomaterial Synthesis Contaminant Characterization Percentage Reference
process techniques removal

ZrO2 NPs with Extracellular Tetracycline DLS, FE-TEM, 98.73% [29]

Pseudomonas microbial EDX, XRD, FTIR
aeruginosa synthesis
bacteria

AgFeO2 NPs Co-precipitation Caffeine UV-VIS-NIR, 99.9% and [31]

with Spectro 95%
Amaranthus fluorimeter, SEM,
blitum leaf XPS, ESR, HPLC

Keratine NPs Fuji and Kato Crystal violet FTIR, UV-vis, 75.97% [32]
from human method XRD, SEM, TEM,
hair AFM

Pt and Pd NPs Extracellular Ibuprofen, 17b- TEM, HPLC, UV- 94, 85 and [53]
with microbial estradiol, vis. 70%
Desulfovibrio synthesis sulfamethoxazole
vulgaris andcipro- floxacin

ZnO colloidal Chemical Rhodamine B UV-vis 98% [54]

NPs of reduction - spectroscopy,
Cyanometra Phythosynthesis SEM, EDS, XRD,
ramiflora BET and FTIR.

Fluorescent Extracellular Methyl violet, 2,4- AFM, 87%, 33% [55]

ZnS NPs of microbial dichlorophenoxyacetic Fluorescence and 51%
Aspergillus synthesis acid and paracetamol spectrophotometry,
flavus. FTIR
SnO2/Activated Hydrothermal Naproxen TEM, XRD, FTIR, 94% [56]
Carbon nano route EDX, UV vis
composite from spectrophotometer.
Corchorus
olitorius

SeNPs of S. Intracellular Diclofenac sodium HPLC, GS-MS, 97.43 % [57]

griseo microbial
brunneus synthesis

Ag NPs of Chemical 4-nitrophenol DLS, SEM, EDX, 99% [58]

Palm date fruit reduction TEM, FTIR, SAED,
extract UV-vis

Fe3O4/Au Chemical Imatinib and XRD, FTIR, UV- 92% and [59]
nanocomposite reduction imipenem vis, SEM, DRS, 96%
with Carum VSM
carvi L. seeds
Table 3 Nanofiltration membranes for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment; N/A
not Available.
Nanomaterial Synthesis Contaminant Mean Characterization Percentage Reference
process pore techniques removal
size
(nm)

Dually charged Layer by Atenolol, N/A FTIR, SEM, AFM, 81.67%, [39]
polyelectrolyte layer carbamazepine contact angle and 92.5% and
multilayer technique , and ibuprofen zeta potential 89.85%
membrane of
polyethersulfo
ne,
polydopamine
and
quaternate
chitosan

Piperazine N/A Fluconazole 0.76 Zeta potential, 60% and [41]

and HPLC, contact 70%
Betamethasone angle, AFM, ion
chromatography
and atomic
absorption
spectrometry

Polyethersulfo Non-solvent Direct red 16 3.53- FTIR, AFM,SEM, 99.21% and [30]
ne membrane induced and Methylene 5.01 contact angle, 98.53%
with para phase blue zeta potential and
hydroxybenzo inversion UV-VIS
ate alumoxane method spectroscopy
filler
Polyacrylonitril Immersion Direct red 16 3.83 FTIR, SEM, AFM, 92% and [44]
e with Fe- precipitation and Methylene contact angle, x- 95%
based phase blue ray diffraction,
nanoparticles inversion inductively
coupled plasma
atomic emission
spectrometer and
atomic absorption
spectroscopy

Polyamide and Interfacial Na2SO4, 0.5- FE-SEM, EDX, From 94.36% [48]
polyethersulfo polymerizati MgSO4, MgCl2 0.7 XPS, AFM, to 98.35%
ne membrane on and NaCl contact angle,
with Beta conductivity and
zeolite zeta potential

Polyether Phase Na2SO4 and 3.4 FTIR, X-ray 80% and [46]
imide inversion CrSO4 diffraction, SEM, 79%
membrane method AFM, contact
with L-cysteine angle
functionalized
glycidyl-
polyhedral
oligomeric
silsesquioxane
nanoparticles

Polyacrylonitril Immersion Amoxicillin 2.13 Zeta potential, 92.3% [45]

e with Fe- precipitation FTIR, AFM,
based phase contact angle,
nanoparticles ( inversion FESEM, EDX,
method flame photometer,
ion
chromatograph
and HPLC
 Polyamide N/A Bisphenol-A 4.5 Zeta potential, 88.9% [43]
membrane SEM, AFM and
with aluminum HPLC
nanoparticles

Cellulose N/A Clofibric acid, N/A HPLC From 88.9% [42]

acetate Gemfibrozil, to 99.9%
membrane Ibuprofen,
Fenoprofen,
Ketoprofen,
Naproxen,
Diclofenac,
Indomethacin,
Propyphenazon
e and
Carbamazepine

Fully aromatic N/A Carbamazepine 0.34 Contact angle, Higher than [47]
polyamide , ibuprofen, SEM, laser 90%
TFC NF90 sulfadiazine, particle size
with Humic sulfamethoxazo analyzer and
acid, alginate le, HPLC
and silica sulfamethazine
and triclosan
List of abbreviations
Abbreviations

CBNs Carbon Based Nanomaterials EDS, Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

EDX
CNTs Carbon Nanotubes DLS Dynamic Light Scattering
SWCNTs Single Walled Carbon FE-TEM Field Emission Transmission Electron
Nanotubes Microscopy
MWCNTs Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes UV-VIS Ultraviolet and Visible Spectroscopy
NPs Nanoparticles UV-VIS- Ultraviolet, Visible and Near Infra-Red
NIR Spectroscopy
NF Nanofiltration ESR Electron Spin Resonance
Spectroscopy
XPS X-ray Photoelectron HPLC High Performance Liquid
Spectroscopy Chromatography
FT-IR Fourier-Transform Infrared AFM Atomic Force Microscopy
Spectroscopy
BET Brunauer, Emmett and Teller GS-MS Gas Chromatography–Mass
Spectrometry
SEM Scanning Electron Microscopy SAED Selected Area Electron Diffraction
TEM Transmission Electron DRS Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy
Microscopy
TGA Thermogravimetric Analysis VSM Vibrating-Sample Magnetometer
XRD X-ray Powder Diffraction FESEM Field Emission Scanning Electron
Microscopy