Methods used for removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater: A review

Abstract

Inefficiency of conventional methods of water treatment towards removal of pharmaceutical traces from waste water has raised a global concern. This has always resulted in pharmaceutical traces entering the environments. The effect of allowing effluents with untreated or partially treated pharmaceuticals have been documented for aquatic life. This type of waste has potential health risk to human even at low concentration.  In most of developing countries, these wastes are not regulated. While looking at the ways to regulate and monitor of this type of pollutant, it should go hand to hand with increasing the efficiency of removing them from waste water. In this review methods capable of degrading pharmaceuticals at different efficiencies have been explained from those based on adsorption, biological and chemical advanced oxidation processes. Also, some areas for further research have been proposed.