Survey of Efficiency of Dissolved Air Flotation in Removal Penicillin G Potassium from Aqueous Solutions

Antibiotics are a large group of pharma compounds which are stable in environment. Antibiotics are considered among the major pollutants in water environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the dissolved air flotation in removal penicillin G potassium from aqueous solutions. This study was an empirical-lab study which the dissolved air flotation was applied in laboratory scale. After determination of the optimal condition of pH and the dosage of poly aluminum, the effect of the effective parameters including the concentration of the coagulant (20, 50, 75, 100 mg/L), penicillin G (25, 50, 100,200), flotation time (5, 10, 15 and 20 sec), saturation pressure (3, 3.5, 4 and 4.5 atm) on the removal efficiency of the penicillin G and COD by dissolve air flotation was studied. The results showed that the dissolved air flotation can reduce COD and penicillin G up to 70.41% and 67.45%, respectively. The optimum condition was as follows: pH=6, initial concentration of penicillin G = 25 mg/L, coagulation time = 10 min, flotation time= 20 sec, saturation pressure= 4 atm and PAC concentration = 20 mg/L. Also, the results showed that the removal efficiency is reduced by increasing the turbidity in the flotation process. The results of this study revealed that the dissolved air flotation process can be effective method to remove the penicillin G from aqueous solution.