Novel ultrafiltration membranes with the least fouling properties for the treatment of veterinary antibiotics in the pharmaceutical wastewater

Dendrimers have received more attention in all fields of research these days. In the present study, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers were synthesized on the acrylic ultrafiltration membranes to minimize fouling as an important deficiency in the separation process. The antifouling activity of these dendrimers with different generations (G0‐3) was tested to restrict three macrolides (tylvalosin, tylosin, and tulathromycin) and two pleuromutilins (tiamulin and valnemulin) as veterinary antibiotic drugs with amine groups and positive charges at pH = 7 of the membrane surface. These compounds are risky for human consumption. Due to having several amine functional groups and branches, PAMAM dendrimers can be a great coating agent for antifouling. G3 PAMAM dendrimer‐coated membranes had the best performance (water flux: 130.7 L/m2·h, rejection of tulathromycin: 91.4%, flux recovery ratio: 86.3%). The function of this ultrafiltration process depended on pore size and also charge surface. A significant reduction for irreversible and reversible fouling was observed for this new ultrafiltration membrane (Fir: 14.5%, Fre: 21.9%). This observation was confirmed by the power law model. Three 5‐hour cycle ultrafiltration processes were carried out for veterinary antibiotic wastewater that showed 3.18% loss of initial water flux (for the third cycle), final cleaning efficiency of 96.82%, and tylvalosin rejection of 94.1%.