Pharmaceutical Residues In Aquatic Environment Research Articles

Functionalized magnetic nanomaterials for rapid and effective adsorptive removal of fluoroquinolones: Comprehensive experimental cum computational investigations.

Alarming growth of pharmaceutical residues in aquatic environment has elevated concerns about their potential impact on human health. Taking cognizance of this, the present study is focussed on the coating of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles with different functionalities and to use them as adsorbents for pharmaceutical waste. The thickness of the coating was analysed using Small angle X-ray scattering technique. Thorough study of the isotherms and kinetics were performed suggesting monolayer adsorption and pseudo kinetic order model, respectively. To get an insight of the interactions liable for adsorption of fluoroquinolones over the functionalized magnetic nanoparticles computational studies were undertaken. The results demonstrated substantial evidence proposing remarkable potential of these nanostructures as adsorbents for different pollutants with an additional advantage of stability and facile recoverability with a view to treat wastewater.

Pharmaceutical residues in aquatic environment and water remediation by TiO2 heterogeneous photocatalysis: a review

The occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in the natural water sources has been reported as early as in the year 1980. Until now, the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in the aquatic environment has been frequently reported in the literature. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that these contaminants have posed a threat to both humans and ecosystems. In this regard, the present review paper seeks to offer an overview of this environmental issue of pharmaceutical pollution where the subject matters to be reviewed include the effects, sources and mitigation strategies of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. Besides, a review of the fundamentals and mechanisms of heterogeneous photocatalysis technology is also presented in this paper. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a rapidly expanding technology which has been extensively investigated and applied in wastewater treatment for the remediation of persistent pollutants such as pharmaceutical compounds during the last decade. Furthermore, the ideal photocatalyst titanium dioxide (TiO2), which can collaborate and perform well in the photocatalysis treatment process, is also discussed. The advantages and limitations associated with the application of this treatment method are summarized and discussed in details. Finally, this review paper focuses on the future trend of the photocatalysis technology and identifies the barriers and lacking parts which need to be resolved in the near future.