Treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater through activated sludge process—a critical review

The occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in water is a rising issue in the environment. These drugs in the waste may be toxic to aquatic organisms and humans as they disrupt the endocrine system, cause genotoxicity, etc. Several techniques were used for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental monitoring and assessment 2023-12, Vol.195 (12), p.1466-1466, Article 1466
Main Authors: Katare, Anil Kumar, Tabassum, Aliya, Sharma, Ashok Kumar, Sharma, Sarita
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated sludge
Activated sludge process
Antibiotics
Aquatic organisms
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biological activity
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Chemical coagulation
Chemical oxygen demand
Coagulation
Drugs
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Ecotoxicology
Effluents
Endocrine system
Environment
Environmental Management
Environmental Monitoring
Genotoxicity
Hormones
Humans
Installation costs
Medical wastes
Monitoring/Environmental Analysis
Oxygen
Oxygen requirement
Pharmaceutical industry wastes
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Pharmaceuticals
Physiochemistry
Review
Sewage - chemistry
Sludge
Solid suspensions
Suspended particulate matter
Total oxygen demand
Total suspended solids
Toxic wastes
Turbidity
Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment
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Summary:The occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in water is a rising issue in the environment. These drugs in the waste may be toxic to aquatic organisms and humans as they disrupt the endocrine system, cause genotoxicity, etc. Several techniques were used for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater, such as physical, chemical, physiochemical, and biological processes like adsorption, chemical coagulation, and activated sludge processes, but these techniques possess several merits and demerits, such as higher installation and operation costs. This technique is used to remove color and turbidity; reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS) to permissible limits for reuse of effluent; and prevent diseases caused by pharmaceutical wastewater. This review focuses on the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater containing drugs like antibiotics, depressants, and hormones, with the activated sludge process having several advantages like good quality effluent and low installation costs. Graphical Abstract
ISSN:0167-6369
1573-2959
DOI:10.1007/s10661-023-11967-3