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17α-methyltestosterone (MT) hormone is a synthetic androgenic steroid hormone utilized to induce Nile tilapia transitioning for enhanced production yield. This study specifically focuses on the removal of MT through the utilization of photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR), which employs an in-house polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafiltration membrane modified with 1% nanomaterials (either TiO2 or α-Fe2O3). The molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the in-house membrane falls within the ultrafiltration range. Under UV95W radiation, the PMR with PVDF/TiO2 and PVDF/α-Fe2O3 membranes achieved 100% MT removal at 140 and 160 min, respectively. The MT removal by the commercial NF03 membrane was only at 50%. In contrast, without light irradiation, the MT removal by all the membranes remained unchanged after 180 min, exhibiting lower performance. The incorporation of TiO2 and α-Fe2O3 enhanced water flux and MT removal of the membrane. Notably, the catalytic activity was limited by the distribution and concentration of the catalyst at the membrane surface. The water contact angle did not correlate with the water flux for the composited membrane. The degradation of MT aligned well with Pseudo-first-order kinetic models. Thus, the in-house ultrafiltration PMR demonstrated superior removal efficiency and lower operational costs than the commercial nanofiltration membrane, attributable to its photocatalytic activities. HIGHLIGHTS TiO2 and α-Fe2O3 were incorporated as catalysts in the photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR).; Under UV radiation, the PMR achieved high 17α-methyltestosterone removal.; Low-energy intensive PMR could achieve high flux and low fouling.; The efficiency of the PMR under UV radiation was greater than the NF03 membrane.;

Steroid hormones, classified as endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), pose significant environmental and health concerns due to their persistence and potential adverse effects. This study investigates the presence of estrone (E1) in hospital wastewater and the efficiency of E1 removal through a photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR). Wastewater samples were collected from two hospitals with different wastewater treatment processes. The concentration of E1 was analyzed using a combination of solid phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The PMR experimental setup involved a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane incorporated with 1 wt% titanium dioxide (PVDF/TiO2). The PMR performance was evaluated with and without UVC radiation. The membranes were characterized for their water contact angle (WCA) and surface morphology. The maximum concentration of E1 in the hospital wastewater was 2.46 ± 1.90 ng L-1. The PMR, operated for 180 min, demonstrated that PVDF/TiO2 (UV) exhibited the highest E1 removal efficiency (96.7 ± 1.4%). This superior performance was attributed to the synergistic effect of PVDF/TiO2 membrane filtration combined with UV irradiation, enhancing the removal capacity. The removal of E1 in the PVDF/TiO2 membrane (36.5 ± 2.7%) surpassed that of the PVDF membrane (32.6 ± 7.8%). The kinetics analysis indicated that the degradation of E1 followed pseudo first-order kinetics. These findings underscore the potential of PMR technology, specifically employing PVDF/TiO2 membranes with UV irradiation, for efficient removal of E1 from hospital wastewater, offering insights for future applications in mitigating micropollutant release into the environment.