Theophylline, as an important alkaloid active ingredient in pharmaceutical industry, often exists in trace form in pharmaceutical wastewater, which may cause potential environmental risks. In view of the technical bottlenecks of traditional treatment methods, such as low efficiency and complex operation, this study used cationic surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as collector, and applied the high gravity foam separation technology for the first time to separate and enrich trace theophyline in pharmaceutical wastewater. In this paper, the effects of surfactant type and mass concentration, gas flow, solution pH and high gravity factors on the separation performance were systematically studied. Under the optimal conditions, the enrichment ratio and recovery of theophylline reached 60.67 and 82.68%, respectively, which were 45.31% and 23.10 percentage points higher than that of the traditional foam separation process. The study confirmed that the high gravity foam separation technology was an effective method for theophylline recovery. This study provides theoretical basis and technical reference for the green separation and recovery of trace alkaloids in pharmaceutical wastewater, and has broad application prospects.
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