KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

PRESENTING ON
USE OF CHITOSAN AS NANOPARTICLE FOR TREATMENT OF
PHARMACEUTICAL EFFLUENTS.
BY
ALEMYA TIMOTHY ABANE (20950013)

SUPERVISED BY
DR. PATRICK BOAKYE
 Introduction
 Pharmaceuticals saves millions of people life.

 It also poses adverse consequences, such as gene toxicity, hormonal

interference, antibiotic resistance, sex organs imposition, and many more
when not disposed of treated well.

 The use of Nanotechnology in treatment pharmaceutical effluents (Zekić et

al., 2017).

 Chitosan, an environmentally benign product.

 Problem statement

 The efficiency of treatment given to pharmaceutical effluents is a challenge to Ghana. Effluents are released into the

environment with little or no treatment and these find their way into the environment and poses threats to human,

aquatic life and the biosphere. Also, techniques used to treat pharmaceutical effluents are not able to identify, treat,

or eliminate some contaminants as a result of the trace concentrations (μg/L or ng/L) they exist, so they tend to

escape from treatments and begin to accumulate in the environment due to their low volatile properties (Drechsel

and Keraita, 2014). Conventional methods including chemical, biological, physical, and mechanical treatments are

insufficient to eliminate or degrade these complex molecules/metabolites. This called for an approach which is

sustainable and provides efficient purification.

Main objective

 To develop a nanoparticle for treatment of pharmaceutical effluents.

 Objectives
The objectives of the study include:

 To develop and characterize chitosan-based nanomaterial,

 To perform sorption studies using the chitosan produced for removal of

antibiotics (sulphurmethoxazole, cipro, trimethoprim and amoxicillin).

 To examine thermodynamic and kinetic effects of on the system.

 Significance of the study

 The study will create awareness to pharmaceutical industries on the quantity

of drug concentrate that are being discharged through effluents to the
environment.
 People will be educated on the evolution of nanotechnology in waste water
treatment and the effects of thermodynamic variations on the system.
 The output of this study will prompt various stakeholders about the
inefficient treatment of effluents from the pharmaceutical industries.
 Scope of study

 Random sampling will be used to collide a sample size of 10 constituency wise.

 The study will be conducted across the Ashanti region of Ghana.
 Various characterization and analysis will be conducted at KNUST and some
pharmaceutical industries.
 Concentrations of antibiotics with be determined at the chemical engineering
lab at KNUST using the HPLC.
 Sorption studies will be conducted at the organic chemistry lab at KNUST.
 Methodology
Materials/Apparatus: Chitosan solution, tripolyphosphate 85% (TPP), Acetic acid,
HPLC, stirred thank, batch reactor.

Chitosan nanoparticles will be produced by using ionic gelation.

Characterization of chitosan

A batch rector system would be used to perform sorption study with key interest in
antibiotics.

Pharmaceutical removal efficiency would be determined.

References
 Drechsel P, Keraita B. Irrigated Urban Vegetable Production in Ghana: characteristics,
benefits and risk mitigation. Int Water Manag Inst. Published online October 2014:1-249.
 Zekić E, Vuković Ž, Halkijević I. Application of nanotechnology in wastewater treatment.
Gradjevinar. Published online 2018. doi:10.14256/JCE.2165.2017
Thank you