Cosmetic wastewater treatment technologies: a review

Abstract

Over the past three decades, environmental concerns about the water pollution have been raised on societal and industrial levels. The presence of pollutants stemming from cosmetic products has been documented in wastewater streams outflowing from industrial as well as wastewater treatment plants. To this end, a series of consistent measures should be taken to prevent emerging contaminants of water resources. This need has driven the development of technologies, in an attempt to mitigate their impact on the environment. This work offers a thorough review of existing knowledge on cosmetic wastewater treatment approaches, including, coagulation, dissolved air flotation, adsorption, activated sludge, biodegradation, constructed wetlands, and advanced oxidation processes. Various studies have already documented the appearance of cosmetics in samples retrieved from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which have definitely promoted our comprehension of the path of cosmetics within the treatment cycle; however, there are still multiple blanks to our knowledge. All treatments have, without exception, their own limitations, not only cost-wise, but also in terms of being feasible, effective, practical, reliable, and environmentally friendly. Graphical abstract

Key Principles of Advanced Oxidation Processes: A Systematic Analysis of Current and Future Perspectives of the Removal of Antibiotics from Wastewater

“…The combination of different AOPs, including UV/H 2 O 2 , ultrasonic/photocatalytic oxidation, UV/O 3 and UV/Fe 2+ /H 2 O 2 , and photo/sono/electroassisted Fenton reaction processes, has been developed to address the limitations of a single AOP in terms of efficient ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation and operating parameters (Figure 3). Due to the synergistic effect of different substances, the combination of different AOPs can significantly improve the oxidation efficiency of contaminants compared with individual treatment technology [6]. The redox potentials of a selection of typical oxidants are shown in Table 1 as a summary in relation to the normal hydrogen electrode (NHE) [1].…”

“…Recently, the availability of fresh water, especially for drinking, has become one of the biggest problems in the world. One of the major causes of this problem, especially in the case of developing countries, is the pollution of surface water by effluent discharges into the surface water from various sectors of activity, such as the chemical and petrochemical industry, the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, and the electrical and electronic components manufacturing industry [4][5][6]. Among the many pollutants, persistent organic compounds have a strong negative impact on aquatic flora and fauna [7,8].…”

The Experimental Design Approach to Removal of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds from Domestic Wastewater by Electrooxidation Process

“…When treating a toxic and non-biodegradable endocrine disrupting compound, electrooxidative reduction transforms the organic substrate into numerous biodegradable metabolites [36], and biological treatment is required for complete mineralization following electrooxidation process [30]. On the other hand, if electrooxidative degradation yields H2O and CO2, no further procedure is needed.…”

Thermoresponsive polymer brush photocatalytic substrates for wastewater remediation

“…4–8 Growing evidence regarding their deleterious effects on human health and the environment spawn increasing efforts for alternative and efficient wastewater treatment approaches. 5,9–12 Solutions include membranes, advanced oxidation processes, precipitation, adsorption, or the conventional activated sludge treatment. 13–16…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8] Growing evidence regarding their deleterious effects on human health and the environment spawn increasing efforts for alternative and efficient wastewater treatment approaches. 5,[9][10][11][12] Solutions include membranes, advanced oxi-dation processes, precipitation, adsorption, or the conventional activated sludge treatment. [13][14][15][16] Photocatalysis has been explored as a viable option to leverage ultraviolet (UV) or visible lightas naturally abundant from the sunto drive degradation of toxic chemicals and pharmaceuticals into harmless, small substances.…”