Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water and wastewater: a review of treatment processes and use of photocatalyst immobilized on functionalized carbon in AOP degradation

Abstract

The presence of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceutical and personal care products in many aqueous matrices have been reported. One of such matrix is streams of wastewater, including wastewater treatment plants inflows and outflows and wastewater flow by-passing wastewater treatment plants. Their persistence arises from their resistant to breakdown, hence they may remain in the environment over long time, with a potential to cause adverse effects including endocrine disruption, gene toxicity, the imposition of sex organs, antibiotic resistance and many others in some aquatic organisms exposed to arrays of residues of pharmaceutical and personal care products. Among the treatment techniques, advanced oxidation processes have been reported to be a better technique through which these PPCPs can be degraded in the WWTPs. Heterogeneous photocatalysis using various photocatalyst immobilized on solid support such as activated carbon, graphene and carbon nanotubes in AOPs have been shown to be a viable and efficient method of PPCPs degradation. This is because, the performance of most WWTPs is limited since they were not designed to degrade toxic and recalcitrant PPCPs. This review highlight the occurrence, concentration of PPCPs in wastewater and the removal efficiency of heterogeneous photocatalysis of TiO2 immobilized on solid supports.

Graphene-Based Composites as Catalysts for the Degradation of Pharmaceuticals

“…There are several reviews on the degradation of pharmaceuticals in water [36,[58][59][60], with focus mainly on adsorption and photocatalytic processes. In this present review, the degradation activity of graphene and graphene-based composites in AOPs such as direct catalytic degradation, electron-Fenton and chemical oxidation process, and sonocatalytic/sonophotocatalytic processes will be explored in addition to photocatalytic processes.…”

Utilization of Waste-Based Sorbents for Removal of Pharmaceuticals from Water: A Review

“…ifosfamide, cyclophosphamide), (viii) contrast media (e.g. diatrizoate, iopromide) [9,10]. According to [9], pharmaceuticals also include antimicrobial agents, fungicides, disinfectants, synthetic musks, some preservatives, some sunscreen UV filters, etc.…”

“…diatrizoate, iopromide) [9,10]. According to [9], pharmaceuticals also include antimicrobial agents, fungicides, disinfectants, synthetic musks, some preservatives, some sunscreen UV filters, etc. However, it depends on the description of use.…”

“…Based on this information and also according to [13], the global pharmaceutical market (consumption of pharmaceuticals) is expected to keep growing in the upcoming years, which is due to several reasons, e.g. population's age and life-span increase; economy growthparticularly in emerging economiesand, along with it, an increasing ability and expectations to treat the ageing-related and chronic diseases; emergence of new diseases; the engineering of new pharmaceuticals; exacerbation of existing diseases due to climate change (noncommunicable diseases and respiratory, water-borne, vector-borne and food-borne toxicants and infections are expected to become more common as climate change intensifies); use of pharmaceuticals for medical prophylaxis and therapy and for viability sustenance of commercial aquaculture and livestock agriculture [9,13,14]. Pharmaceuticals (drugs) are continuously released into wastewater via urine, and faeces (through sewage) as parent compounds, derivative conjugates or metabolites.…”

“…(Figure 1). The main route through which pharmaceuticals are discharged into the aquatic environment are wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) [7,9].…”