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Driving force membrane processes seem to be most useful for water treatment. Reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and ultrafiltration have been applied to phthalate removal from water. In the experiment three membranes RO-DS3SE were tested for reverse osmosis, membrane NF-DS5DK for nanofiltration and UF-DSGM for ultrafiltration, all of them from Osmonics, Inc. (USA). All membranes were tested under specified conditions (for RO, NF – 2.0 MPa, UF – 0.3 MPa) and they showed a high degree of phthalate removal from water – from 97.6% to almost 99.9%. Microextraction (solid phase extraction, SPME with CV/DVB-carbowax/divinylobenzene phase) was used for phthalate extraction from the aquatic matrix, while gas chromatography (GC) with FID detector was used for their quantitative-qualitative monitoring.

1. The investigations showed a high effectiveness of pressure driven membrane techniques in phthalate removal from water. The compounds were removed in the range of 97.6–99.9%. 2. The membranes were able to remove xenobiotics independent of their concentration in the filtered water, their molar masses and log Kow of particular components. Similar values of the retention coefficients for the phthalates being investigated were received probably due to similar morphology of the particles. Polyamide + N (CH2)5 C n O H Hydrogen bond O C OR1 C OR2 O Phthalate molecule Fig. 3. Diagram of a hydrogen bond between a membrane polymer and a phthalate particle.