Removal of Pharmaceutical Residues from Water and Wastewater Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Methods—A Review

Abstract

Persistent pharmaceutical pollutants (PPPs) have been identified as potential endocrine disruptors that mimic growth hormones when consumed at nanogram per litre to microgram per litre concentrations. Their occurrence in potable water remains a great threat to human health. Different conventional technologies developed for their removal from wastewater have failed to achieve complete mineralisation. Advanced oxidation technologies such as dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) based on free radical mechanisms have been identified to completely decompose PPPs. Due to the existence of pharmaceuticals as mixtures in wastewater and the recalcitrance of their degradation intermediate by-products, no single advanced oxidation technology has been able to eliminate pharmaceutical xenobiotics. This review paper provides an update on the sources, occurrence, and types of pharmaceuticals in wastewater by emphasising different DBD configurations previously and currently utilised for pharmaceuticals degradation under different experimental conditions. The performance of the DBD geometries was evaluated considering various factors including treatment time, initial concentration, half-life time, degradation efficiency and the energy yield (G50) required to degrade half of the pollutant concentration. The review showed that the efficacy of the DBD systems on the removal of pharmaceutical compounds depends not only on these parameters but also on the nature/type of the pollutant.

Sunlight-Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Ciprofloxacin by Carbon Dots Embedded in ZnO Nanostructures

“…The increase in the utilization of water in domestic, agriculture, and industries has compromised on the quality of water. In the recent times, a lot of reports have suggested the persistence of high concentrations of emerging contaminants, including the pharmaceutical compounds in water bodies, soil, sediment, and plants. , The contamination of water bodies by pharmaceutical compounds is attributed to two pathways, that is, discharging of pharmaceutical industry effluents in water streams and improper disposal of tons of unused drugs into the environment . Higher concentrations of antibiotics in water bodies and particularly in drinking water suggest that the existing technologies used for water treatment are not well suited for removing antibiotics from aqueous medium.…”

“…1,2 The contamination of water bodies by pharmaceutical compounds is attributed to two pathways, that is, discharging of pharmaceutical industry effluents in water streams and improper disposal of tons of unused drugs into the environment. 3 Higher concentrations of antibiotics in water bodies and particularly in drinking water suggest that the existing technologies used for water treatment are not well suited for removing antibiotics from aqueous medium. Consequently, it has led to a great concern, as antibiotics are responsible for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibioticresistant genes, which can affect the aquatic systems and pose threat to the human health.…”

Application of Natural Coagulants for Pharmaceutical Removal from Water and Wastewater: A Review

“…Pharmaceuticals include antibiotics, analgesics, both legal and illicit, beta-blockers, steroids, etc., and they have been detected in wastewater treatment plants' effluents, sediments, sludge, natural waters, groundwater, and drinking water. The presence of pharmaceuticals in the soil may trigger the development of antibioticresistant genes [51].…”

A new spectrophotometric method analysis of adrenaline in pharmaceuticals based on laccase-like nanozymes

“…Виявлення біологічно активних токсичних фармацевтичних сполук та їх метаболітів у поверхневих водах викликає велике занепокоєння людства (Akerman-Sanchez & Rojas-Jimenez, 2021;Massima Mouele et al, 2021) та становить небезпеку для здоров'я (Rebollar-Pérez et al, 2016). Фармацевтичне виробництво стало значним джерелом шкідливих хімічних речовин як забруднювачів навколишнього середовища (Bradley et al, 2020).…”