Removal of emerging contaminants from pharmaceutical wastewater through application of bionanotechnology

Abstract The presence of excessive pharmaceutical contaminants in released wastewater has developed a risk to marine organisms as well as humans. Their presence in drinking water has although raised substantial concerns, very little is known about the fate and ecological impacts of these pollutants. As a result, these pollutants are inevitably introduced to our food chain at trace concentrations. Unfortunately, the conventional wastewater treatment techniques are unable to treat pharmaceuticals completely with practical limitations. The focus has now been shifted towards nanotechnology for the successful remediation of these persistent pollutants. Thus, the current review specifically focuses on providing readers brief yet sharp insights into applications of various nanomaterials for the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants. The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and other hazardous substances in surface waters and drinking water and the long-term exposure may represent a potential risk for both the environment and human health. Many studies have evidenced that conventional technologies used for wastewater treatment do not completely remove pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) residues, which can be detected in receiving waters at concentrations ranging from few ng L-1 until more than μg L-1. Nanomaterials are of fundamental importance in the current research efforts to develop more efficient water treatment and remediation systems in place of conventional technologies. This chapter will provide a comprehensive overview of the most relevant works available in literature reporting the use of nanosorbents (nanotubes and zeolites), nanofiltration (NF) and advanced oxidation processes for the removal of PPCPs compounds from water and wastewater. The literature review of laboratory- and pilot-scale studies have shown that nanomaterials are promising tools in environmental cleaning processes and water purification, even if more research is necessary.