A review on conventional and advanced hybrid technologies for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment

Tackling the pollutants of emerging concern in drinking water and wastewater necessitates innovative approaches to ensure sustainable development. Pharmaceutical pollutants (PP) represent an emerging class of recalcitrant toxicants that must be eliminated from wastewater before discharge into the environment. However, the conventional treatment methods have many limitations with low efficiency for PP removal. This has led to new and advanced treatment systems for PP removal. This review summarizes sources, constituents, and analyses of pharmaceutical wastewater. It also presents an integrated assessment of the conventional and advancement in the various integrated and hybrid treatment technologies for decontamination of PP from wastewater. The hybrid technology combines two treatment systems which improve the removal efficacy of PP from water. Asides from hybrid technology, MBR was also found to be promising. Although, some single treatment methods have shown high prospects for removing selected drugs from PP wastewater or higher removal efficiencies for PP at certain experimental conditions. But overall, conclusions have been drawn from the literature review that hybrid technology or the integration of two or more technologies should remain a focal point for the future development of enhanced technologies that can eliminate more pharmaceuticals in one operation. Thus, this review comprehensively analyzes the strategic issues that may steer future research towards cleaner water production and sustainability.

Automated summary

The review highlights the need for innovative approaches to tackle pharmaceutical pollutants in drinking water and wastewater. Conventional treatment methods are limited in their efficiency for removing pharmaceutical pollutants, necessitating the development of new and advanced treatment technologies. Hybrid technology and membrane bioreactors show promise in enhancing the removal efficacy of pharmaceutical pollutants. Future research should focus on the integration of multiple technologies to achieve better removal of pharmaceuticals.