Adsorptive reclamation of pharmaceuticals from wastewater using carbon-based materials: A review

The scarcity and shortage of clean and potable water for human consumption and/or use are of global concern. The contamination of water induced by pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical products further worsens this problem, as intake of such contaminated water could lead to drug resistance. The reclamation of wastewater containing pharmaceuticals by adsorption is found to be an effective, simple, and cost-effective process. In this review article, we selected and evaluated ∼140 published articles on adsorption-based studies between 2010 and 2023 that have investigated the use of cheap and adsorptive carbon-based materials for remediation of pharmaceutical-laden wastewater. The application of carbon-based materials for the reclamation of varying types of organic micropollutants in wastewater is rapidly gaining attention in recent years. This is due to their sustainability, reusability, adsorption capacities, and cost-effectiveness. The uptake of pharmaceuticals as an organic micropollutant in terms of adsorption isotherm, operating parameters (temperature, initial concentration, solution pH, time), re-usability studies, kinetics, etc. for different kinds of carbon-based materials are addressed in this review article. [Display omitted] •The potency of different carbon-based materials as pharmaceutical adsorbent is highlighted.•The reclamation of wastewater containing pharmaceuticals by adsorption is discussed.•Adsorption kinetics and isotherms for pharmaceutical uptake are enumerated.