Separation of a high-value pharmaceutical compound from waste ethanol by nanofiltration

Recovery of the high-value active pharmaceutical ingredient 1-(5-bromo-fur-2-il)-2-bromo-2-nitroethane, referred as G-1 in this work, from ethanol solution was studied by using nanofiltration (NF), with the objective of closing the production cycle. A recovery of G-1 around 90% was obtained, offering the self-made membranes with 25% and 27% PES and the commercial membrane NF270 (FilmTec, Dow) the most promising results in terms of flux of ethanol through the membrane. These membranes were considered in the process design of a real scale system, showing the technical and economic viability of NF for G-1 recovery.