PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER

The chemical pollution of water resources with pharmaceuticals is a major challenge facing the humanity in this century- The purpose of this paper was to reviewed methods for removing pharmaceutical products pollutants from wastewater- To assess the efficiency of pharmaceuticals removal from wastewater were presented several methods for removing these residues of drugs- These methods were adsorption on different adsorbent materials, photodegradation and removal during sludge treatment- Among other methods, the adsorption method in the presence of nanoadsorbants is supposed to be one of the best because of its important characteristics- This is due to the remarkable capacity of nanoadsorbants to adsorb a variety of pollutants- Researchers have a special interest in depollution wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry due of their impact on the environment- Water pollution due to drug and pharmaceutical residues is an alarming issue- It is due to the fact that these residues affect human beings and as a result of the degeneration of their biological activities can lead to enzymatic, hormonal and genetic disorders- Pharmaceutical products are widely used in human and veterinary medicine and are present in various samples of water, they can be removed or discharged directly into the domestic wastewater- Moreover, wastewater treatment plants due to insufficient technology to remove these pollutants do not eliminate most pharmaceuticals- Non-eliminated pharmaceutical products get into the groundwater and could be harmful to aquatic organisms even when are present at low concentrations (ng-L-')- Nanomaterials are widely explored as highly efficient adsorbents, photocatalyst and disinfectants for wastewater treatment- Generally, they exhibited various advantages, such as high adsorption capacity, fast kinetics, specific affinity towards targeted pollutants, enhanced photocatalytic response for a broad light spectrum, and strong anti-bacterial activity- The conventional treatment techniques inefficiency for removal pharmaceuticals from wastewater suggests that more attention should be given to for the finding the new treatment processes in order to avoid environmental pollution.