Improving Pharmaceuticals Removal at Wastewater Treatment Plants Using Biochar: A Review

Akintola, Ayooluwa Tomiwa; Ayankunle, Ayankoya Yemi

doi:10.1007/s12649-023-02070-2

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The levels of pollution by humans through the release of organic compounds into the environment are still increasing, leading to long-term exposure to organisms including humans. Toxic and long-lived organic compounds, such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and many drugs, are found in particular in aqueous environments around the world according to recent studies. , Both groups of substances can cause multiple serious biological defects even in offspring of exposed individuals. − Therefore, it is of paramount importance to advise on technologies for the treatment of (waste) water streams contaminated by such substances in typically low concentrations; this is still an active field of research as, for example, reviewed in refs − .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adsorption of Diclofenac and PFBS on a Hair Keratin Dimer

Hafner,

Wolfgramm,

Klein

et al. 2023

J. Phys. Chem. B

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Environmental pollution by man-made toxic and persistent organic compounds, found throughout the world in surface and groundwater, has various negative effects on aquatic life systems and even humans. Therefore, it is important to develop and improve water treatment technologies capable of removing such substances from wastewater and purifying drinking water. The two substances investigated are the widely used painkiller diclofenac and a member of the class of "forever chemicals", perfluorobutanesulfonate. Both are known to have serious negative effects on living organisms, especially under long-term exposure, and are detectable in human hair, suggesting adsorption to a part of the hair fiber complex. In this study, a human hair keratin dimer is investigated for its ability to absorb diclofenac and perfluorobutanesulfonate. Initial predictions for binding sites are obtained via molecular docking and subjected to molecular dynamics simulations for more than 1 μs. The binding affinities obtained by the linear interaction energy method are high enough to motivate further research on human hair keratins as a sustainable, low-cost, and easily allocatable filtration material.

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